Human Resource Management PhD Abstract Samples
Written by Dr. Linda M
Topic: Assessing the Impact of Training Programs on Employee Readiness for Digital Transformation Initiatives: A Case Study of a European Telecommunications Company
Digital transformation initiatives have become both a necessity and a way of achieving sustainable competitive advantage for modern firms operating in innovative industries. At the same time, they frequently meet employee resistance caused by the speed of these adjustments and/or their involuntary nature. As suggested by a number of change theorists, adverse change outcomes can be prevented through change readiness strategies. They can include the development of a guiding coalition, a shared strategic vision, short-term wins, and other elements facilitating change. This thesis aimed to assess the impact of training programmes on employee readiness for digital transformation initiatives. This project followed a case study design with a mixed-methods approach being used to collect data. First, the author reached regular employees asking them to complete survey forms, which resulted in 117 responses. Afterwards, the participants willing to proceed with the qualitative part were contacted for 13 follow-up interviews to collect more details on the digital skills and other elements required for achieving readiness for digital transformation. The findings suggest that the training programmes must be tailored to specific challenges encountered in the future change to minimise ambiguity and misunderstanding. With that being said, such a degree of readiness can only be achieved through continuous learning initiatives, which was reflected in the formulated recommendations.
Topic: The Influence of Leadership Support on Employee Engagement with New Technology Initiatives: A Case Study of Zero Trust Adoption in Two Eastern European Companies
Zero trust is an innovative cybersecurity concept that improves organisational resilience and protects sensitive data from hackers using theft credentials. With that being said, its adoption in modern companies remains relatively low due to the overall complexity of this approach and its reliance on the strong digital skills of the workforce. Leadership support was found to be a strong facilitator of innovation and change in organisations by multiple previous studies. This thesis seeks to evaluate its influence on employee engagement with new technology initiatives. To answer the posed research questions, the author organised 23 interviews with employees of two Eastern European companies and 7 information technology managers from these organisations. Both companies have recently completed the process of zero trust adoption and their staff members possessed first-hand experiences of these initiatives. Line-level employees and information technology managers were asked to share their insights about leadership support and its role in new technology initiatives implementation. As shown by the findings, executive support, open communication, employee empowerment, tolerance for mistakes, and executive understanding of key challenges of a particular change were the most-cited influence factors mentioned by the majority of interviewees. These elements were reported to substantially improve engagement levels in the case of zero trust adoption requiring thoughtful experimentation and relying on high levels of staff digital literacy.
Topic: Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Management in Customer Support Companies: Towards a New Conceptual Framework
Customer support represents an important sphere in consumer relationship management since consumer-centric strategies improve customer experience quality, facilitate their decision-making, contribute to value-added cross-selling and upselling, and support all phases of the customer journey. With that being, many organisations have to outsource such activities to third-party providers due to various resource constraints. While such professional customer support companies seek to provide superior service to their clients, they frequently encounter problems with maintaining the same level of internal quality standards as their partners when dealing with the end customer. As found by several recent studies, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve knowledge management (KM) effectiveness via big data analyses, predictive analytics, and decision-making support mechanisms. This study utilised the qualitative insights of 14 industry professionals to suggest a revised KM conceptual framework incorporating the use of AI solutions available in the market.
According to the findings, artificial intelligence could facilitate knowledge filtering, knowledge combination, knowledge repository, knowledge application, knowledge sharing, and knowledge performance elements within the proposed new model. It was offered to three partnering organisations for follow-up testing afterwards. Its two-month evaluation led to positive appraisals from all of these firms, which implies that it can be recommended to other customer support companies. AI tools were found to substantially facilitate the automation of routine tasks. However, both interviewee statements and feedback from these three organisations suggest that the implementation of artificial intelligence can be hindered by employee resistance, data privacy issues, and the lack of training. These potential barriers need to be taken into account by practitioners to ensure seamless AI integration and short-term improvements in the operational efficiency of customer support operations.
Topic: Assessing the Impact of Remote Collaboration Tools on Team Productivity and Communication Quality in International Software Development Teams
The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of software developers across the globe to adopt the concepts of remote collaboration and virtual teams. While they had been already utilised by many of their colleagues, the lockdown period demonstrated that their adoption had some unexpected effects on team productivity and communication quality. According to earlier studies, some workers experienced a greater sense of social isolation due to the lack of informal communication while others perceived the same scenario as a lack of distractions contributing to their performance. These effects could be more prominent in international software development teams that have to deal with different time zones, language barriers, and possible cultural differences. This thesis aimed to assess the impact of remote collaboration tools on the productivity of such groups and their communication quality in order to identify the best practices for enhancing group cohesion and long-term collaboration outcomes.
In terms of research methodology, the study adhered to the explanatory sequential design. A systemic literature review informed the development of a quantitative survey exploring key remote collaboration tools used by international software development teams, the types of communication they support, and their perceived impact on team productivity and communication quality. The data was processed via SPSS to generate descriptive statistics and linear regressions exploring the relationships between these variables. Afterwards, follow-up interviews with team leaders and team members with diverse cultural backgrounds were used to further explore the identified patterns as well as the role of cross-cultural factors. The findings suggest that remote collaboration tools must incorporate elements of informal and non-verbal communication to improve team cohesion and ensure good levels of understanding among team members. Additionally, familiarity with different instruments must be consistent across group members to minimise the impact of digital skill barriers.
Topic: Exploring the Role of Mentorship Programs in Career Development for Women Leaders in the Eastern European Public Sector
Despite multiple social and educational programmes, the number of female leaders remains relatively small in multiple areas of the world. While some earlier studies associate this problem with skill deficiencies, the analysis of literature conducted by the author suggests that the problem may be seen as a more systemic one. More specifically, career development hindrances may be related to societal stereotypes, lack of confidence or limited strategic vision of self-advancement. Mentorship is frequently seen as a powerful tool capable of solving diverse problems of personal and professional development, which implies its potential ability to help female leaders progress with their career aspirations more effectively. This study sought to explore how such strategies can contribute to this goal with a focus on Eastern European public sector organisations. The author utilised purposive sampling to recruit 15 female leaders from different backgrounds who underwent mentorship programmes in the last five years and pursued career objectives in the selected sphere.
Qualitative interviews sought to construct detailed narratives of the lived experiences of the participants while focusing on the perceived benefits offered by mentorship in the context of career advancement in the public sector. The performed thematic analysis suggests that such programmes played a major role in the professional and personal growth of most respondents. More specifically, multiple interviewees reported enhanced levels of confidence and decision-making capabilities as the main outcomes of receiving such guidance. At the same time, several barriers including the limited availability of quality mentors, gender biases, and problematic organisational cultures hindering female leadership were also reported. The recommendations formulated by this study include the promotion of mentorship visibility, the provision of gender-sensitive mentorship training, and the implementation of organisational policies encouraging female leaders to take part in development initiatives and receive the required support.
Topic: The Effect of Organisational Change on Employee Morale and Productivity: A Retrospective Case Study of a UK Hospitality Firm Undergoing Change during the COVID-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced disruption into multiple industries forcing thousands of employees to adjust to new work arrangements. As found by multiple previous studies, this had a mixed effect on morale and productivity due to the need to adapt to new challenges, acquire additional skills and competencies, and overcome a number of problems including a sense of social isolation in online communication. With many organisations deciding to keep some of these work arrangements in place even after the pandemic in line with regulators’ promotion of remote and flexible schemes, there exists a limited understanding of the effect of such organisational changes on staff morale and productivity in the long-term perspective. This study sought to address this research gap by conducting a case study of a selected UK hospitality organisation to identify how it dealt with these challenges while undergoing a major transformation during the COVID-19 period. The retrospective analysis of a change occurring against the background of a systemic crisis of this magnitude was expected to provide unique insights into the ways of building organisational resilience and dealing with extreme levels of uncertainty that can be highly valuable to practitioners.
In terms of research methodology, the study adhered to the convergent parallel strategy. Quantitative data about morale and productivity trends and the methods used to promote and support organisational change was collected from 134 employees. At the same time, 13 interviews with company managers were conducted to balance these insights with an additional perspective on the actions taken by the company during the transformation. Statistical analysis and thematic analysis revealed that employee morale was adversely affected in the short-term perspective despite all utilised tools and was only restored after several months. On the contrary, productivity levels demonstrated a major initial decline but stabilised after the introduction of several top-down directives and change management instruments. The findings suggest that the utilisation of such tools may not be sufficient for handling organisational change against major market crises. This was reflected by the recommendations suggesting the need to plan such transformations in a way that minimises the impact of the identified barriers.
Topic: Investigating Employee Perceptions of Privacy and Security Concerns Related to Workplace Technologies: The Challenge of Privacy in an Increasingly Connected World
The increasing integration of technology in the workplace raises multiple concerns regarding the issues of privacy in an increasingly connected world. With many staff members having to use their social media accounts and other credentials for both professional and personal communication, this exposes them to the risks of stalking as well as various security threats. At the same time, even regular employees can feel vulnerable to data breaches and hacker attacks that can compromise their sensitive data. These considerations informed the focus of this thesis aiming to explore the perceptions of such concerns by workers and managers from several companies. The study followed the explanatory sequential design based on two stages of data collection. The first one involved a quantitative online survey of 308 employees recruited from the companies in which the researcher had personal contacts due to their professional backgrounds. They were asked to complete anonymous forms exploring their statements of the workplace technologies used by their firms and their perceptions of trust in the company, privacy risks, job satisfaction levels, and other feelings and lived experiences associated with these antecedents.
The second phase involved 12 qualitative interviews with the members of the survey indicating their willingness to share additional insights related to their perceptions of privacy and security concerns related to workplace technologies. These two datasets were processed using statistical analysis and thematic analysis revealing that most participants were afraid of potential surveillance on the part of their employers and saw the disclosure of their real names on company resources as an invasion of privacy exposing them to the risks of stalking and other adverse consequences. These findings imply that modern companies may need to re-evaluate their security policies while limiting the potential exposure of the personal details of their staff members to protect their privacy.