Small business experience Assignment

Small business experience
Small business experience

Small business experience

Order Instructions:

The writer will have to read each of this post and react to it by commenting, analyzing and supporting with relevant articles. The writer will have to read carefully before giving constructive comments or criticism on the post. The writer should write a one paragraph of at least 150 words. APA and in text citation must be use as each respond to the 4 article must have in text citations. The writer will have to use an article to supports his comments and criticism on each of the article. Address the content of each post below in a one paragraph each, analysis and evaluation of the topic, as well as the integration of relevant resources. The writer cannot just say “I agree or disagree” the writer must constructively support and use relevant sources to support his point why expanding on the article.

I will send the details via email

SAMPLE ANSWER

 

The writer will have to read each of this post and react to it by commenting, analyzing and supporting with relevant articles. The writer will have to read carefully before giving constructive commentsor criticism on the post. The writer should write a one paragraph of at least 150 words. APA and in text citation must be use as each respond to the 4 article must have in text citations. The writer will have to use an article to supports his comments and criticism on each of the article. Address the content of each post below in a one paragraph each, analysis and evaluation of the topic, as well as the integration of relevant resources. The writer cannot just say “I agree or disagree” the writer must constructively support and use relevant sources to support his point why expanding on the article.

Article 1

The research question for the interview was as follows: What strategic human resource management practices contribute to the retention of employees in the business?

Based on the two interviews conducted, the following themes were present:

  • Small business experience
  • Motivation of employees
  • Marketing for employees
  • Training employees
  • Communicating with employees
  • Relationship building
  • Atmosphere of small business

Qualitative researchers create small categories based on text or visual data (Creswell, 2013). In developing the codes, I looked for common things related to human resources. Some of the themes I gathered from researching human resource practices. I looked for commonalities between the research and statements made during the interview. I listened and looked for patterns between the interviewees.

Small Business Interview 1 Transcript

Interviewer: Good morning. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. Today, I would like to interview you regarding your small business. Your name and the name of your business will remain confidential. Is it okay if I record the session?

Participant 1: Yes

Interviewer: Okay, let’s get started. First, I would like to ask you some background information regarding your business.

Interviewer: What type of business do you own?

Participant 1:  I own a Plumbing Repair/Remodeling business which provides 24 hour service 365 days out of the year. I knew I wanted to go into business for myself at a young age. I didn’t know what type of business I wanted to own until I met my husband. He was going to school for plumbing and I was going to school for business. We made the perfect team. For the first few years, it was just the two of us. Over time, our team grew. Our team members are all licensed and highly skilled with many years of experience.  For over 30 years, we have always maintained superb customer satisfaction, affordable prices, and the highest quality products on the market.

Interviewer: How long have you been in business?

Participant 1: (Experience) We have been in business for 31 years.  We had  only two plumbers but after 2 years clientele increased beyond belief.  As a result, we made the business decision to expand and hire a crew of plumbers to support the expanding demand. We have one building located in the center of the metroplex. We decided to strategically locate in the center so it would be easy to service the entire metroplex.

Interviewer:  How many employees do you have?

Participant: As of right now we currently have 8 full time plumbers that work during the day and 3 on-call plumbers that assist with the overnight service calls. We recently made the decision to hire on 5 more techs that are currently going through the interview process.  We believe in the next five years we will have at least 15 full time plumbers.

Interviewer: What methods do you use to recruit employees?

Participant 1: (Marketing for employees)We rely heavily on social media. We recently opened a Facebook account and have over 300 followers.  We also use career websites to recruit such as Zip Recruiter and Career Builder.   Another marketing technique that we have found useful is to post recruitment flyers at all of the local supply stores.  Eventually, we would like to attend some of the career fairs that are held around town.

Interviewer: How do you motivate employees?

Participant 1: (Motivation) We have various contests throughout the year that are geared towards motivating our employees to reach certain goals.  Once these goals are reached they are rewarded with bonuses and pay increases. For example, we typically compete to see who successfully services the most clients in a specified time period. The plumbers have to complete the regular plumbing services within an hour and have no complaints for a year.

Interviewer: What type of human resource management training have you completed?

Paericipant 1: (Experience) I went through a community college and obtained a Management degree with a focus in HR.  I also participate in at least one HR training or seminar every year. I did learn a lot of things along the way. One day I’d like to complete my certification in human resource management.

Interviewer:  How do you help your employees understand the day-to-day operations of your business?

Participant 1: (Communication)We have weekly mandatory meetings where we discuss finances and our company goals.  We also keep all of our employees up to date on all training materials as well as policies.  The foundation of our company comes from employing qualified and expert plumbers who are trained to follow well-organized business procedures to provide the best experience and customer satisfaction.

Interviewer: What day-to-day practices do you use to retain your employees?

Participant 1: (Communication) We have an open door policy which allows all of our employees the opportunity to express any concerns with the owners. (Building relationships) I let all of my employees know that I appreciate them and how valuable they are to my company.  We also provide health benefits, vacation/sick time, and offer the opportunity to attend self-improvement trainings.

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Include the one paragraph comments hear using a pear review article to support your comments. Also include in text citations in APA.

The article is clear and precise. I do agree that indeed qualitative research is suitable for conducting such an interview. Using interviews allows a researcher to obtain in-depth information that provides insights on the topic of focus (Creswell, 2013). Furthermore, a researcher has to use coding to better understand the key aspects of the study (Bailey, 2014). It is however, important that the researcher listen attentively when using interview. Recoding the interview is one of the best ways to ensure that nothing is omitted or misquoted. I therefore, find the article insightful and well organized. The themes selected are very important in any human resource department in human resource management and in retaining customers. For instance,   employees require motivation to remain focused and have a sense of belonging (Fratričová & Rudy, 2015). Relationships building and employee experience as well as training and communication in an organization play a key role when it comes to performance and employee retention.

References

Bailey, L. F. (2014). The origin and success of qualitative research. International Journal Of Market Research, 56(2), 167-184. https://www.doi:10.2501/IJMR-2014-013

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Fratričová, J., & Rudy, J. (2015). Get Strategic Human Resource Management Really Strategic: Strategic HRM in Practice. International Journal Of Management Cases, 17(4), 149-155.

Article two

Small-Scale Qualitative Research Project—Conduct the Interview

The purpose of my proposed qualitative study is to determine the accounting skills small business owners use to achieve business sustainability beyond 5 years.  The primary research phenomenon under study is the relationship between accounting knowledge, managerial decision making, and small business failure.  The primary research goals are to explore strategies small business owners use to record accounting information and subsequently retrieve and analyze the data for decision-making purposes.

The targeted population will consist of owners of companies with fewer than 20 employees, inclusive of the owner, located in Juneau, Alaska that have been in business for more than five years.  I interviewed one participant for the small scale research project.  This interviewee owns and operates a small businesses in Juneau, AK  that has sustained beyond five years.  Furthermore, this interviewee meets the Walden University Institutional Review Board criteria for Minimal Risk.

Data analysis and interpretation within a qualitative study is time consuming and iterative (Creswell, 2013).  Along the data analysis spiral, researchers describe, classify, and interpret data into codes and themes (Creswell, 2013).  The researcher begins the process by identifying a short list of codes (Creswell 2013).  The investigator applies those codes to evidence thereby aggregating the information into categories (Creswell, 2013).   The examiner further analyzes the resulting categories to develop themes (Creswell, 2013).

Prior to coding the interview transcript, I identified four codes:  Processing; Decisions; Knowledge; and Assistance.  Table 1 includes the name and description of the codes used to analyze the interview transcript.

Table 1.  Code Names and Descriptions

Code Description
Processing Interviewee conducts accounting related transaction processing

 

Decision A managerial decision is made that is informed by accounting information

 

Knowledge Interviewee self-assessment of accounting knowledge, skill and ability

 

Assistance Small business leader relies on an outside accounting firm for assistance

 

Analysis Small business leader reviews accounting information

 

I developed the codes by keeping in mind the overarching research phenomenon and primary research goals under study.  In the next section, I apply the codes to the interview transcript of the interview conducted on October 1, 2015.

Interview for Participant #1, small business owner in Juneau, AK

Interviewer:  Thank you for agreeing to talk to me this afternoon.  As we spoke before, I’m interviewing you for my DBA my doctorate in business administration which I am seeking from Walden University and my main research topic is the relationship between accounting knowledge, managerial decision making and small business success.  As we talked before I am taping this interview and if you wish to look over the transcript after I transcribe it you are more than welcome to do that.  And in the report I will submit for my class, I won’t use your name or the name of the business you will simply be Participant #1, small business owner in Juneau.  OK?  So as I get ready to ask the questions to you have any questions for me?

Participant #1:  No, I don’t.

Interviewer:  Well, great. So the first few questions are just some initial background questions.  So how long have you operated your business?

Participant #1:  15 years

Interviewer:  15 years.  So even though I’m taping I’m going to jot down a few notes as we go.  Do you perform your own accounting?

Participant #1:  See I’m not that knowledgeable about what exactly what part is accounting. [Knowledge] I have an accountant [Assistance]. But I use QuickBooks.  So I do all accounting things.  I write paychecks, I pay all the bills, I balance the checkbook.  But I do that all month then they check it.  I give it to them once a month.  I also pay sales tax.  All those 730 forms, all those 130 forms – federal and city [Processing].  Then I give it to them at the end of the month.  They make sure it is balanced and that the checks are in there [Assistance].  I did not start with QuickBooks so now it is easier, obviously.

Interviewer:  Did you do it manually then switch to QuickBooks?

Participant #1:  Yes.  The previous owner did nothing on a computer.

Interviewer: OK

Participant #1:  So, they don’t do as much at the end of the month but they make sure I balance correctly [Assistance].  And then, they do the State employment taxes [Assistance] and make sure my 940s are submitted correctly.  I submit them [Processing] but then they make sure everything is correct.  Then at the end of the year, they do my taxes [Assistance].

Interviewer:  Is this a CPA firm?

Participant #1: Yes

Interviewer:  Ok, great.

Participant #1:  I do my basic accounting [Processing] and they do my taxes [Assistance].

Interviewer:  So it’s a mix of doing your own daily transaction work and then you hire an accountant to oversee everything and then do some reporting for you.

Participant #1:  Right.  I can’t stand finding that little mistake and it takes so much of my time it is not worth it [Assistance].  But it is worth my time to write paychecks and do all that [Processing].  The previous owner, didn’t even write paychecks and that is a piece of cake now day.

Interviewer:  With QuickBooks?

Participant #1:  Yes, that was a long answer.

Interviewer: No that is great.  And we have kind of hit several of the next questions.  You perform your own accounting [Processing] and yes you do hire an outside firm to help out with that [Assistance] and you use QuickBooks as your general ledge accounting system.

Participant #1:  Correct

Interviewer:  Have you taken any accounting courses?

Participant #1:  No, that is what I have wanted to do [Knowledge].  You said five years is kind of the cut off of who you would interview and at about five years I realized that Wow, I don’t really understand the basics or the terminology [Knowledge].

Interviewer:  Debit, credits?

Participant #1:  Yeah – all that stuff.  Like at the University but adding more night classes to a business that has night working hasn’t worked out, especially with kids [Knowledge].

To review the remainder of the coded interview transcript, please download the attached word document.   

References

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Include the one paragraph comments hear using ana pear review article to support your comments. Also include in text citations in APA.

The article is well organized and precise. Using qualitative research is recommended for researchers and I therefore, support the decision of the researcher to use this research design (Creswell, 2013). I do agree with the researcher and support the use of interviews as a technique of data collection. Despite the various alternatives of collecting data such as use of questionnaires and observation, interviews have benefits as well (Sandy, Beigi, Cohel & Nash, 2014). Using interviews allows the researchers to read into the emotions of the interviewees. The researcher can therefore make adjustments when asking questions to ensure that detailed data is collected. I also  agree  that when using interviews,  it was a good gesture for the researcher to request or seek informed consent from the interviewee on whether to record the interview or not. Embracing ethics in the study is a positive gesture that helps to increase the level of confidence among the users of the information. The themes adopted by the researcher to code the interviews suits the topic of study. I therefore, find this article constructive and reliable.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sandy, E. A., Beigi, R. H., Cohel, C., & Nash, K. C. (2014). An interview tool to predict disruptive physician behavior. Physician Leadership Journal, 1(2), 36-39.

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