published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This thesis uses personnel records from a large UK based financial sector employer to aid investigation into questions relating to both wage determination and employee turnover.  The thesis begins by turning to the origins of the human capital earnings function (Mincer, 1974).  The emphasis of the discussion is that other specifications can also accommodate estimates that are consistent with the basic components of Mincer’s analysis.  Motivated by these theoretical considerations as well as existing empirical evidence, I model the earnings function as a semi-parametric partial linear model.  The estimation results reveal that conventional parametric specifications result in biased estimates of the growth in wages with within-firm experience.  In addition, conventional specifications do not adequately serve as control variables when the effects of other covariates on wages are of interest. Interpreting the relationship between tenure and wages forms the focus of the remainder of the thesis.  Several theoretical models predict a causal relationship between these variables and estimates of the causal effect of tenure on wages have ranged from negligible to substantial (Garen, 1988).  I begin the investigation by assessing the employee exit decision.  Utilising information on the exact states reason for each employee’s departure and available data on supervisor performance ratings, I also form and estimate models of employment duration.  Estimation results are consistent with the job matching model presented by Jovanovic (1979).  Results also show augmenting hazard models to incorporate reasons for departure is important for understanding gender differences in turnover.  Utilising the econometric methods developed by Altonji and Shakotko (1987) and Topel (1991), as well as evidence from the turnover investigation, I find notable effects of tenure on wages.  Interestingly, both estimators deliver similar estimates and there are small gender differences in wage – tenure profile.  Arguments are presented in order to explain these findings.

One of the characteristics of the knowledge economy is the high level of mobility of knowledge workers. The cost of labour turnover of these key resources is high in both financial and non-financial terms. There is a need to understand what the factors are that underpin the retention cognitions of knowledge workers in order that organisations may try to reduce the labour turnover of these key employees or to minimise its effects. Literature Research The review of pertinent literature was grouped under the following headings: the new world of work in a knowledge based economy; labour turnover (including its antecedents and consequences); retention; and demographic differences. The review revealed: the high costs associated with the turnover of knowledge workers; the low level of predictive ability of the antecedents of organisational withdrawal; and the wide range of variables considered to impact on knowledge workers’ retention cognitions. The literature also showed that most research had been carried out in single industries and had focused on one or two variables. No literature was found that used multivariate approaches to the problem of knowledge worker retention. Empirical Research Objectives The primary research aim was to determine what factors are important to knowledge workers when they decide to stay with or leave their employing organisation. A secondary aim was to determine if the sample was homogeneous in terms of these retention cognitions or whether they could be segmented into meaningful sub-groupings. Participants In the pilot study, 30 knowledge workers who had recently changed employer were used to determine the independent variables of retention. In the second phase, data was collected from 306 knowledge workers in full time employment. A wide range of demographic and industry groupings were represented by the participants. The Measuring Instrument A quantitative questionnaire was developed. It consisted of questions covering: demographic data, an international scale of job satisfaction factors, job mobility, intentions with regard to future length of service and organisational commitment. Forty three variables relating to retention cognitions, which had been developed through the pilot study, were then presented, with Likert scales used to determine their relative degree of importance. The Research Procedure The data was gathered while the knowledge workers attended a wide variety of courses at a university business school. The data was collected under lecture room conditions to ensure standardisation of the process. Statistical Analysis A wide variety of statistics were used to address the research questions. The data was processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences and the Number Cruncher Statistical System computer packages. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, CHAID, factor analysis, Mann Whitney U tests, Kruskal Wallis Analysis of Variance, and cluster analysis were used to analyse the data. Conclusions and Recommendations The findings revealed the high level of mobility of the sample. The study showed that job satisfaction and organisational commitment do not predict proposed future length of employment with an organisation but merely co-vary with it. The high levels of individualism, egocentricity, and focus on personal development amongst these workers were demonstrated. Factor analysis revealed seven underlying dimensions of retention cognitions of the respondents, five of which are viewed as important in determining retention. These were: the need for independence; career development provision by the organisation; egocentricity and challenge within the organisation; the organisational setting; and performance related rewards. The two factors found to have a low impact on retention were the desire for a career change and issues related to personal comfort. The latter finding explains the lack of effectiveness of traditional retention devices. A model was offered that consolidates the factors affecting the retention cognitions of knowledge workers. Uni-variate analyses examining differences based on demographic variables detected only 20 significant differences out of the 172 tests. Hence a multivariate approach was used to look at sample segmentation. A cluster analysis revealed a segmentation of these knowledge workers and their retention cognitions into nine distinct categories, termed respectively: the salon culture; the seekers; the groupies; the disengaged; the self sufficient; the depressives; the contented new-agers; the co-dependents and the self starters. Recommendations to academic researchers were offered based mainly on the need to understand the characteristics of knowledge workers operating in the new world of work and, in particular, the drivers of mobility of this important population. Recommendations to management were largely twofold. Firstly, to adapt to the mobility of knowledge workers as this is a defining characteristic of the new world of work. Secondly, to develop compelling employee propositions that highlight challenging work, career development opportunities as well as rewards based on individual performance in order to improve the retention rate of these key employees. / Prof. Chris Welman

Employee turnover continues to be discussed as an outcome in Human Resources (HR), but comparatively few studies have examined the relationship between turnover as the independent variable and institutional outcomes. Although the call to HR practitioners has often been made over the past 20 years regarding the importance of tying HR programs and measures to institutional goals, there has been limited reporting of such initiatives among higher education institutions, which typically focus on student outcomes equally or more prominently than financial outcomes. While the HR Analytics field has been growing and there is a robust community of academics involved in data analysis of organizations, the field in Higher Education is still in its development stages. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to test whether employee turnover in various iterations can be a statistically significant predictor of (a) student completion rate, and (b) aggregate organizational external research funding. The study also tested whether such measures can be established by strictly using current institutional “legacy” data, as opposed to gathering any data that are not currently collected or available from normal business operations. Reviewing these questions through a theoretical framework of general systems theory and using student data, employee data, and financial data of a single higher education institution, this study was designed for the HR practitioner to review the use of models to predict whether employee turnover statistics are meaningful in explaining operational goals of an organization that are not financial. Six years of data (2006-2011) from a single higher education institution were used in the analysis. The sample subject group comprised students enrolled in various Master’s degree programs across 10 academic departments at the University. The analysis was conducted using ordinary least squares regression and via binomial logistic regression. Other forms of analysis were considered as part of the review. Overall, findings suggested that employee turnover (operationalized as employee instability rate) is statistically significant in models that predict student completion rate. Furthermore, employee turnover is statistically significant in models that predict the University’s external research funding levels (operationalized as indirect cost recovery statistics reported annually).

Thesis (D.P.H.)--Rutgers University. / "Graduate Program in Public Health." Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-77).

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Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration, Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology, 2008. / Telkom SA, over the last decade and a half, has undergone major change in terms of the manner in which it does business. From being a state-owned company to becoming a para-statal, to being run by foreigners and, finally, being run by local leaders within the company, Telkom SA has transformed as a company. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of change implementation on staff turnover in Telkom SA by reviewing the following key issues: The implementation of change within Telkom SA, benchmarked against international best practices; the communication of change/re-structuring initiatives by management in Telkom SA; the effect of change implementation on staff turnover; and the effect of change implementation on employee morale and retention. The rationale of this study is to allow Telkom SA management to review their current implementation strategy of change management initiatives in Telkom SA. Thereafter, it will provide guidelines for improvements in change implementation for the management of Telkom SA. Staff turnover and employee morale can negatively impact service delivery and financial performance of a company, so these recommendations are aimed at improving service delivery and financial performance. The study was descriptive, cross sectional and quantitative, involving the application of a questionnaire, via e-mail and personal interviews, with a sample of staff from the core planning section in the Network Infrastructure Provisioning division, where a high staff turnover rate existed. The questionnaire focused on assessing the impact of the implementation of change management processes on staff turnover at Telkom SA and was developed from the literature review. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 15 for both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that a significant percentage of respondents were v vi dissatisfied with the way management had handled issues related to change implementation, communication, turnover, morale and retention. With this in mind, recommendations on ways to reduce the impact of the key issues on the organisation were made. These included the recommendation of lean methodology in order to deal with the first three key issues, namely, implementation, communication, and turnover. Thereafter the ‘four cores of credibility’ model was recommended to improve employee morale. Finally recommendations were made on ways to improve employee retention. The overarching issue that has come to light is that although management is, to a degree, communicating change implementation, there is a noticeable lack of engagement with employees. The onus, therefore, lies with leadership to lift the levels of engagement with employees, thereby reducing the impact of change implementation on the organisation by increasing the level of transparency in the organisation. Improving communication would lead to improved trust, which would then result in improved employee morale, ultimately leading to a reduction in the staff turnover rate.

The present study is an analysis of inter-industry labour flows between 1959 and 1968. The data were provided by the Department of Employment (DE) and are derived from an annual one per cent sample survey of employees holding national insurance cards. Their reliability is subject to several limitations but on the whole they provide good approximations of the actual figures. The study begins with an introductory chapter in which the findings of macro analyses of labour supply and micro investigations into local labour markets are examined in order to demonstrate the need for the inter-industry approach taken here. The manpower flow data are introduced at the end of this chapter where their limitations are discussed. The main body of the thesis is contained in the next six chapters. These can be divided into two parts. Chapters II-IV analyze the role of non-cyclical forces in determining manpower flows between industries. Chapter II examines net flows between manufacturing and non-manufacturing. It analyzes the contribution these net flows make to overall changes in industrial employment levels and demonstrates that manufacturing relies heavily on net recruitment from certain non-manufacturing industries which, in turn, experience large net intakes of persons outside employment. The chapter also shows that there is a tendency for young persons to enter and leave the labour force through the service sector and to spend the prime of their working lives in manufacturing where wages are higher. Chapter III analyzes gross manpower movements in and out of industries. The first half examines each industry's total inflows and outflows as a proportion of its employment level. This provides a measure of the industry's labour turnover rate. Industries with high turnover rates were found with two exceptions either to have high rates of employment growth or to pay low average wages. The second half examines the relative sizes of labour flows between industries and demonstrates that manpower movements between certain pairs of industries are much greater than would occur if flows were randomly determined. In other words, the industry a mobile worker enters is to some extent a function of his previous industry of employment. Chapter IV analyzes the causes of these neighbourhood relationships between industries. The first half constructs a measure of locational and occupational similarities between industries. The resulting formula provides estimates of the degree of neighbourliness between industries that are remarkably close to those derived from the inter-industry mobility data. The chapter also considers the importance of relative wages in determining neighbourhood relationships and reports that these play a subordinate role. Chapter V begins the discussion of the trade cycle's impact The first half examines net movements of manpower between manufacturing and non-manufacturing and finds that they are positive in upswings and negative in downswings. Moreover, net flows increase as a proportion of total manufacturing employment changes in the late stages of each upswing. This reflects the favourable manufacturing wage differential and the intensification of competition for manpower already in employment as the number of persons without jobs and seeking work dwindles. Net manufacturing inflows were, however, found to decline in absolute terms in the late stages of each upswing. The second half of the chapter examines gross manpower flows between manufacturing and non-manufacturing. It shows that the decline in net male flows during the late stages of each upswing is due both to a fall in gross inflows and a rise in outflows. The lower inflow is due to a decline in the number of persons in non-manufacturing suitable for recruitment into manufacturing while the higher outflow reflects increasing competition from the non-manufacturing sector. Net female flows fall by much less in the late stages of an upswing. Gross inflows continue to increase but outflows rise faster. This is because the female labour supply is more elastic and movements of women between manufacturing and non-manufacturing respond more readily to relative demand changes. Chapter 6 analyzes in greater depth the effects of a tightening labour market on the inter-industry mobility process It shows that the manufacturing sector suffers most from manpower shortages at the peak of the cycle even though its plants pay the highest wages. This is attributable to greater cyclical fluctuations in manufacturing labour demand, greater skill requirements, and increasing competition from non-manufacturingo The relative importance of each of the last two factors can be expected to vary between individual manufacturing industries Engineering and metals plants should experience greater recruitment difficulties owing to skill differences, while plants in industries that are close neighbours to non-manufacturing industries could be expected to suffer from increasing competition from the non-manufacturing sector. These theories are tested econometrically on manpower flow data for movements between non-manufacturing and individual manufacturing industries and are supported by the results. Chapter 7 analyzes manpower flows between the engineering and metals industries. These are shown to be affected strongly by changes in the composition of final product demand. Post war cycles in Britain have been led by the swings in consumer expenditure on durable goods and lagged by fluctuations in plant and machinery investment. Plants producing both types of goods are found in engineering and metals industries. In some cases both types of goods may be produced in the same factoryo Consequently there is considerable competition for scarce manpower between these two sectors of final demand. The effect of the lag in the timing of demand recovery between them is, however, to provide consumer durables producers with a competitive advantage. Since their manpower requirements start to expand at a time when the labour market is relatively slack, they have the opportunity to pre-empt the labour supply. Capital goods producers must then wait until the start of the downswing before they can recruit all the manpower they require This suggests that capital goods producers face the most serious manpower shortages at the peak of the boom and an investigation of cyclical fluctuations in the time customers have to wait for deliveries of plant and machinery provides qualified support for this view. Chapter 8, the conclusion,contains a summary of the findings of the study and a discussion of its implications for future research and policy making. It considers various methods of achieving a change in the industrial distribution of employment and argues that the introduction of relative wage changes to achieve this objective is best regarded as a policy of last resort implemented only after its likely impact on flow patterns and comparability claims have been carefully analyzed. The advantages of discriminatory taxes on labour - such as the Selective Employment Tax - over relative wage changes is that they do not induce comparability claims from workers who lose their position in the earnings structure. More research into interindustry mobility patterns is recommended to provide a basis for future manpower planning and the possible introduction of new types of discriminatory employment taxes to assist in the implementation of such plans.

The hotel industry in Taiwan has suffered from high turnover rates for many years. High turnover rates reduce productivity and drain hotel profits. Though the hotel industry tends to live with high levels of employee turnover, high turnover need not be accepted as an inherent characteristic of the industry. Hotel managers should learn why employees leave hotels and take effective actions to retain them. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Employee turnover is not a new phenomenon. The retail industry has always suffered from high employee turnover rates. High employee turnover is costly to retailers not only because it increases administrative costs in recruiting and training employees but it also reduces the operational capability of the retailer. While most studies had focused their attention on the financial costs of employee turnover, in retailing, the non-financial costs of employee turnover can also be substantial. These non-financial costs include lower morale among remaining employees and losses in expertise and experience. / While there are already many studies on employee turnover, there is a lack of studies of the phenomenon in the retail industry. This study will attempt to close the gap in the literature by studying employee turnover in the retail industry more closely. More importantly, the study will adopt a social constructivist approach to the study of the phenomenon. This approach is not commonly used in employee turnover studies and is likely to add a different perspective to the phenomenon. The aim of the study is to establish the causes of employee turnover in the retail industry and to suggest ways in which retailers can attempt to retain their employees. / The study was conducted with 29 respondents with a major bookstore chain operating in Singapore. The findings suggests that factors that affect employees' decision to quit can be categorised into push and pull factors. Push factors include the level of relationship the employee has with the supervisor and colleagues, the presence of career advancement opportunities and the presence of work-family conflict. Pull factors is the presence of other job opportunities. In addition, a consistent finding in the research show that strong and positive relationships with colleagues can reduce turnover intentions of employees in the retail industry. However, these factors are moderated by personal factors like demographics and personality of the employee. / The study concluded with a discussion of the implications of the research findings and suggests how retailers can adopt policies that can reduce the employee turnover rate. In addition, the study also suggests areas for further research. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005