is a research study, which analysed the effect of strategic management strategies on the temporary and permanent employees of construction industry. For this study a particular company has been selected as a case known as China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

This is a quantitative analysis, which is carried out using a survey strategy, in which employees of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation are given a questionnaire, and have to fill in answers to the questions. This give a consolidated data, which is when analysed, gives a strong base of that yes the presence of strategic management does have an positive impact on the temporary as well as permanent employee management in China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

CHAPTER NUMBER ONE

INTRODUCTION 

1.1 Introduction

In the current chapter a roadmap is provided to research by demonstrating the background and scope of this research. Moreover, all the important aspects that form the base of this research like research aim, objectives, hypotheses etc., are discussed in this chapter of research.       

1.2 Study Background

Employees have the key role to play in the accomplishment of organisations, goals and it’s the responsibility of employees to work for development of organisation. Its development rests on the shoulders of employees as well. Employees are one important source of the organisation to get a competitive advantage in the market, and in present days with the globalization factor human resource management of the organizations took the shape of strategic human resource management. According to Armstrong, (2008) it’s the capabilities of the employees which help organizations in gaining the competitive edge in the market. With the passing days strategic management has gained the significance and organisations now link up the overall organisation’s strategic goals with the strategies of human resource. Schuler et al. (2007) stated that the competition has increased, and the environment has become more dynamic as well. Due to the diverse needs of human beings and the increase in competition, the techniques of employee management have changed as well. Employees are there to accomplish the goals of organisation by using every skill they have. In view of Voorde et al. (2010) this matter of management of the employee needs a special emphasis of the organisations so that they don’t end up losing the competitive employee. The first thing which organisations need to do is to align all the activities of the organisation and employees. Miller, (2006) is of view that for aligning human resource strategies and organisational strategies strategic integration is an inescapable reality and necessity. The key feature of the strategic management is to bring in line the aims and objectives of the human resource management with the aims and objectives of organisation. The thing which is focused now days is not the development of the isolated plans and practices of the human resource, but to bring in line the rational organisational strategies with human resource practices.

In order to manage the employees in any organisation the formal and well developed structure is required which would bring in line human resource practices. Doing this enhances the value of organisation in all.

The second largest economy of the world is China, which is due to its growth in industry, economy and infrastructure (Songtao et al, 2011). In the recent era the real estate industry of China is a very progressive industry for the reason that it has been developed at large scale and it has many mega projects under its belt. The golden era for the Chinese real estate industry is considered between years 2005 to year 2009. This era is commonly known as the real property bubble in China. Hao et al., (2011) have stated that during this period the prices of houses became double there in China. Government of China has a key role in both the public and private sector as it has full authority to set the developing rules and the prices and to regulate these set things. The boom period of real estate ended when the government intervened in year 2011, before that it went beyond the reach of middle class to purchase property (Jen et al. 2012). Human resource has a key role to play in not just real estate but in the construction industry in China because these are labour intensive industries.

The industry of real estate has more classification of temporary and permanent employees for the reason that they work on the project basis. Thus, here the role of human resource becomes important to develop those strategies which would retain their employees. (Xiaoling et al. 2010) Many authors are of the view that the expansion of above one million people would be accommodated as it’s a mega project. Human resource management is required in real estate for the reason that it benefits the business ultimately. The ongoing study would examine the impact of strategic management for management of temporary and permanent employees while considering the case of in the real estate industry of China. 

1.3 Scope of the Research

The research has a broad spectrum as employee management is an issue that is gaining importance with every passing day. The research has a scope for both practitioners and academia researchers. The academia researchers and practitioners can take help to design a framework for effective employee management. 

1.4 Problem statement

The problem statement devised for the current research is:

“How the strategic management affects the permanent and temporary employees’ management –case of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is considered”

1.5 Aim and objectives

The core aim of this study is to develop a strategic management framework for the effective delivery of the permanent and temporary staff for real estate in China. 

The research has the following objectives.

1. To scrutinize the effectiveness of strategic management in human resource management with the help of the available literature. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the secondary data collection.
2. To analyse the employee management techniques in the real estate industry of China. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the secondary data collection.
3. To examine the existing practices and priorities in the context of the real estate industry of China for managing permanent employees. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the primary data collection.
4. To develop strategic management for the real estate staff. This objective will be accomplished with the help of analysis of collected data and information through qualitative techniques.
5. Test and validate the framework with domain expert. This objective will be accomplished with the help of analysis of collected data and information through quantitative techniques.   

1.6 Research questions

The research is conducted by keeping in mind the following research questions.

• To what extent the management of permanent and temporary employees is affected by the strategic management process?
• Is real estate industry in China is practicing effective strategic management?

1.7 Research hypotheses

Following hypotheses are designed for the current research.

H: 1. Strategic management has a positive impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

H: 2. Strategic management has a negative impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

H: 3. Strategic management has no significant impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

1.8 Research Methodology  

According to Creswell (2012) research methodology provides an overall structure that helps in attaining the aims and objectives designed for research. In the current research quantitative research approaches are used. Kasi (2009) stated that the quantitative research approach is used to study the impact of one variable on the other variable. Moreover, quantitative research approach helps in the collection of data from the larger population. For the data collection purpose a close ended questionnaire is used that allows the collection of data in short time. The questionnaire has three parts. The first part has the questions that cover the background of the topic, second part covers the analysis of the current strategic management practices in real estate industry of China and the third part covers the role of strategic management in managing permanent and the temporary employees in China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The questionnaires are distributed among the employees of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The respondents are selected by employing random sampling technique so that each and every employee has a fair chance of selection. Age, gender, job tenure are the demographics on the basis of which the respondents are differentiated. The different demographics helped in the collection of broader data and information as different people have different viewpoints. The employees are approached after the consent of management and the employees.

Along with the primary data secondary data is also collected in this research. The secondary data is collected with the help of articles, books, reputed magazines etc. This data is used to analyse the existing approaches, practices and methods used in the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation regarding employee management. The collected data is analysed by applying the positivistic research philosophy that implies the use of quantitative techniques to analyse the data. The data is presented and analysed with the help of well-constructed tables and graphs.

1.9 Dissertation structure

The following dissertation structure will be followed.

Chapter	Name	Aim
1	Introduction	This chapter covers research background, aims, objectives, hypotheses, and problem statement etc.
2	Literature review	This chapter will explain the variables involved in research and the relationship between the variables with the help of the earlier researches.
3	Methodology	This chapter will explain the research methods and philosophies for the current research.
4	Analysis	Collected data will be analysed in this chapter.
5	Conclusion and recommendations	Discussion of research findings and certain recommendation will be devised in this chapter.

Source: developed by author (2014)

1.10. Contents of Dissertation

• Chapter 1: Introduction

• 1.1. Introduction
• 1.2. Study Background
• 1.3. Scope of the research
• 1.4. Problem Statement
• 1.5. Aim and Objectives
• 1.6. Research questions
• 1.7. Research Hypotheses
• 1.8. Research Methodology
• 1.9. Dissertation Structure
• 1.10. Contents of Dissertation
• 1.11 Summary

• Chapter 2: Literature review

• 2.1. Introduction
• 2.2. Strategic management – Defined
• 2.3. Strategic management and employee recruitment / permanent and temporary employees
• 2.4. Models relating to Strategic human resource management
• 2.5. Strategic Management in Real estate
• 2.6. Impact of strategic management on permanent and temporary employees
• 2.7. Strategic management in Real estate of China: Current Context
• 2.8. Theoretical Framework
• 2.9. Summary

• Chapter 3: Methodology

• 3.1. Introduction
• 3.2. Research methodologies available
• 3.3. Quantitative versus qualitative
• 3.4. Research Process
• 3.5. Limitations
• 3.6. Summary

• Chapter 4: Analysis

• 4.1 Introduction 
• 4.2 Aim of the Analysis 
• 4.3 Sample and Data Collection 
• 4.4 Quantitative Analysis 
• 4.5 Confirmation of Hypotheses 
• 4.6 Summary 

• Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation

• 5.1 Introduction 
• 5.2 Discussion and Conclusion 
• 5.3 Reflective Statement
• 5.4 Recommendations 
• 5.5 Summary 

 

 1.11 Summary

The introduction chapter summarizes the whole things that are to be performed in the upcoming chapters. The research aim, objectives and questions are explained in detail and the background of the research is well explained.  

 

 

Chapter Two- Strategic Management

2.1. Introduction

In any organisation the key role, which can hardly be over emphasised is played by the employees of that organisation. They work towards the development of organisation and make possible their targets and goals. They shoulder the development of organisations. In present day and age, there is no doubt that it is the employees who provide the competitive edge to the organisations in the global market, especially when the firms and organisations all over the world are spending lots of money on the human resource development. Their capabilities help organisations in gaining the advantage over the competitors (Armstrong, 2008).  The focus these days has shifted to strategic management. It has gained currency lately and organisations increasingly resort to the strategic management and link it to the strategies of human resource. Today the competition is ever so stiff and the environment has become so fluid (Schuler et al. 2007).  It is not surprising to know that with the dynamics and rubrics of modern day competition the strategies employed in employee management have also radically altered.  They employees use whatever they have with whatever they can in order to contribute towards the success of a firm or organisation.  This management of employees is crucial these days. This is so because organisations don’t want to lose out the competitive race in the global market (Voorde., et al.2010). The first and foremost thing of any organisation is to ensure that all the activities of the employees are aligned and streamlines. Strategic interest remains indispensable to the organisations in order to align the human resource strategies (Miller 2006).  These days the organisations try and develop not just the plans in isolations and practices of human resource but comprehensive organisational strategies with thorough human resource practices.

2.2. Strategic management – Overview

Management is the output of the functions that are performed in achieving the objectives of the firm by designing a strategy; functions that are set by and performed by the group of senior employees. Strategic management can simply be phrased as the placement of a firm in a way that would enable its survival in the long run. Strategy, and its concept also imports how value is created from seemingly nothing to attract the customers. In order to understand the strategy of the firm one thing to analyse is the factors that have contributed to where the firm stands today unless of course that firm is in its early days. A question that can be pertinently asked is, though quite broad sweep, how a firm has reached its current position or why has the firm only restricted itself to producing certain number of products or offering certain range of services. Further, what are the products and services does the firm intent to launch or adopt and whether they are any different, if different, if at all, then how and to what extent are they different to the present products and services. Strategy flows from usually a small group of leaders within the company or the all-powerful leader siting at the helm of affairs.  One may pose why must be placed in such a high position who make strategies or what is it they actually contemplate or is there any other centre which is also productive in the company so far as strategy is concerned and can also be tapped or how can one ascertain the collective will of the organisation that often sits on the fence and remains passive or silent. In addition how those decisions made or what are the kinds of management style; whether it is top-bottom or bottom top of if structured in a particular way why is it structured in a certain way and if there is a connect between strategy and structure (Connelly and Gallagher, 2004).

A great deal of efforts goes into developing a strategic plan. Once it is sufficiently or adequate developed one great strategic management team is needed to fulfil the desired objectives.  The goal for any organisation should be critically thought out and construct a strategy and not religiously follow a particular notion of strategy in order to guard the posts and play it safe.  There are subtle distinction among the academics and authors in strategic planning and strategic management. This study will only shed light on the meaningful and well-intended distinctions that keep intact the spirit and substance of strategic planning. (Njeri, et, al., 2001)

2.3. Strategic management and employee recruitment / permanent and temporary employees

Another important factor that impacts on the performance of an organisation is its recruitment policy (Kimani, 2010). There is a consensus that poor recruitment policies not only effect the growth of the organisations but also impede its performance and service delivery. It is absolutely critical for any organisation that wishes to survive in the top league to keep attracting the best talent available in the market. The job market has become cut-throat competitive and the skills that are required in organisations have become increasingly specialised and consequently diverse. The recruitment decisions of the firm have to be taken with great caution and selectively. Poor recruitment decisions can have adverse consequences both in the short run and in the long run.  At the very worst organisations fail to meet their objectives and lose the competitive edge over their competitors (Richardson, et., al 2005). Recruitment policy is one of the fundamentals of effective human resource strategies and if aptly employed can not only increase the performance of the organisations but also exponentially enhance its reputation in the market as well (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2006). If the recruitment is ineffective it has serious implications and consequences for the organisations, inter alia, low turn-over, low morale of employees, lost business opportunities, high cost of training with little or no benefits (Evans, et al., 2007).  There is an obvious link between the recruitment policy and organisational performance therefore an effective human resource planning strategy has to be laid out before starting on the recruitment decisions and selection process (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2006; Bratton and Gold, 2007). The human resource management is all about defining the jobs and developing the comprehension of the labour market externally as well as internally.

2.3.1 Measurement of Recruitment Effectiveness

The future of any organisation depends on the recruitment policy of that organisation (Petrescu, et. al.,, 2008) Recruitment policy has to incorporate the right mix of experience, skills and talents to grow every day. The strategic recruitment approach enables the effective recruitment policy. Following are some of the points on the check list:

?         The costs per hire, which cover the entire process of when a recruitment process starts to the day the recruit reports for duty.

?         Speed of hire. This can also be termed as the time between when a position is vacant to when the replacement comes.

?         Customer satisfaction. It concerns customer satisfaction where the recruit is stationed.

?         Quality of hire. It is widely regarded as the most important feature.  This allows the organisation to have just the right people to proper and grow.

There are many to view recruitment through the lens of ROI. All the tangible and intangible benefits are weighed against all the direct and indirect costs incurred due to the recruitment. This it must be added is not difficult. One way of deterring the same is by conducting interviews with the customers to gage the level of their satisfaction. This enables in deciding the best metrics for an organisation.

2.3.2 Temporary recruitment of employees

It encapsulates the scenario wherein the employee who is hired by an organisation who is bound to leave in a short span of time. There are different descriptions given to the temporary employees such as contractual, seasonal, interim, freelance etc. Sometimes even the temporary word is shortened to “temp”. Sometimes in the white collars jobs with high pay packages the temporary employees are referred as consultants. These areas include accountants, architects, engineers etc. However it must be noted that the term used in that context must not be confused or passed off as the management consulting. It need not be the case that temporary employees only work part-time. They may legitimately function full time as well. It all depends on the nature of the job. There are instances when the temporary employees even are eligible for benefits such health insurance etc. that are only meant in most cases for permanent employees. It may also not be the case that all temporary employees find jobs through temporary employment agency. There are other mediums as well. One can find a job from a local park even where seasonal jobs are on offer. There are agencies such temporary work agency that find, are a look for and at times retain the temporary or seasonal workers. The companies that are in need to hire the temporary workers send for such agencies and furnish them the details of the work for which the staff is required on the short term basis. Another aspect of temporary staff is they have to keep making cyclical adjustments in positions due to the non-permanent nature of their work (Wandera, 2011).

 

The key concern arising over the last thirty years has been the persistent changes that have taken place in short term employment due to host of factors including changes in the arrangement of work globally (Foote, 2004). Generally the effect on both employees and organisations has yet to be fully comprehended because of the other many variables also contributing influence on the said outcomes. Back in 1990s, according to one estimate the short term employment business made up 10 % of the total job growth (Wessel, 2001). There were also informed predictions that indicated a 60% increase over 1996 figures by 2006 (Wandera, 2011). These days firm in order to cut above the rest and improve on their competitiveness in the global market have increasingly resorted to short term labour market. That said, there is a degree of difference among all such firms in terms of human resource management, in particular, their respective focus on training, orientation, socialisation and integration or workers. It has been pointed out that multitudes of factor contribute towards departure rate of workers before the contract expires (Autor, 2001). Some of these are: insufficient socialisation, perceived justice or lack of it, decision making process and being excluded from it, legitimate expectations such as permanent work, tenure, less tolerance for inequity, constraint motivation and modest commitment levels. Quite a many firms use the short term workers as seasonal adjustments or as cyclical workforce besides they are cost effective measures. They are also employed for specific need basis requiring specific skills (Jolliffe and Farnsworth, 2003).  It is pertinent to mention here that for such firms the costs, inter alia, enhanced socialisation, training and development of short term employees easily outweigh their benefits. Another aspect of short term employment is that it allows the organisations to screen out the prospective employees and gauge whether a particular hiring is “fit and proper” to be a part of the organisation in the future. The probation period of the short term staff allows the leverage to organisations to assess the potential and work ethic of the staff and accordingly furnish offers for longer employment contracts (Druker and Croucher, 2000).  Collaterally it is crucial for such firms to encourage the a more friendlier atmosphere between the employee and employees as that can allow draw greater benefits and output from the staff (Wandera, 2011). It needs to be appreciated that the drive behind the employees to enter intro short term employment contracts is rooted in the fact that there is general scarcity of permanent work in the market and secondly the choice of work available is also limited and at times not suited to the temperament of people. Also, most of the people who do enter into such contract, do so, with the hope of making the cut and entering into the long term employment contract with the organisations (Foote  and  Folta,  2002). There are cases when the aspiration for the long term employment comes from the a perception of lenders, that since the income is instable, therefore seen as high financial risk, short term works would not want to be perceived as high investment risk. A pronounced growth was seen in the US in the 1990s when the short term employment netted the growth of 10%. The empirical data collected also points out a radical growth in outsourcing of functions too (Houseman, 2001). The push and pull factors responsible for the short term employment, are the regulatory functions of the governments to regulate the labour markets making them more flexible and cost effective (Wandera, 2011). On the contrary, another view supports the argument that short term employment industry regulates itself and is responsible for its own growth (Rogers, 2000).

 

2.3.3 Permanent Employees

Permanent employees have a different nature of work as compared to temporary employees as they are directly paid by the employer they render services for. They usually enjoy a wide range of benefits such as health insurance, paid holidays, sick time and even contributions to the retirement plan. Such employees are at most times eligible to even switch positions within the companies. Even though promotion and seniority is not considered as a vested right but they are eligible for promotions as well. Such employees enjoy the job protection as well and cannot be terminated abruptly. In addition they can also be member of the unions that agitate the collective interests of the employees before the employee for better terms and conditions of the job. The term rarely permanent employment connotes that employment of the individual is protected by employee’s working life. Such jobs are quite rare in the private sector (Cao, et. al., 2013).

The fixed term employment is beneficial for the firms for two reasons: it can be used as tool of flexible adjustment. This allows firms to keep the labour demand flexible at a low cost. Secondly, it can be used a screening device that allows firms to employ workers having assessed their performance over a short period of time. It must be borne in mind that the success of the short term employment contracts does not solely depend on the objectives the organisations or employers wish to achieve. A factor that also contributes is the acceptance and the responsiveness of the workers. Short term employment contracts can either have positive or negative impact on the job satisfaction.  The theory of segmented labour market coined by Doeringer and Piore (1971) elaborates on the negative impact on the relationship (Cao, et. al., 2013). The concurrent use of permanent and fixed term workers is compartmentalised into two segments. Whereas one segment employs permanent workers, the other segment has fixed term employees.  They have tailored working conditions, each segment that is. One segment, that of permanent worker enjoys a greater protection due to host of reasons, the fixed term employees don’t enjoy the same degree of protections and have usually instable jobs. (Wooden and Warren, 2003).

It wouldn’t far-fetched to assert that the segmentation in the workplace makes the fixed employees more or less the second class members with limited or no rights at all. This goes without saying that due to this reason the fixed term employees have been reported to have lower levels of job satisfaction. Another explanation that can explain the negligible job satisfaction is the psychological contract theory (Guest, 2000). The premise of the theory is the implied symbiotic relationship governed by the contract between the employer and the employee. There are corresponding obligations with their rights (Isaksson, et al., 2003).  This theory points out that for the conducive work environment it is important that the workers’ rewards against their contributions are balanced. When so much as impression picks up among the workers that there is a degree of inequity in terms of their contributions and subsequent rewards, they feel that the contract theory is violated. Consequently the job satisfaction declines.  If the employers, for instance, discriminate on level or the other against the fixed term employer unduly favouring the permanent employers then this would have adverse impact on the satisfaction level of the short term workers (Guest and Clinton, 2006).

 Another theory that also sheds light on the job satisfaction level is the equity theory (Robbins and Judge, 2008). The theory points out that the workers tent to make comparisons between reward-contribution ratios and keep track of the same with other workers. If a worker feels other worker’s ratio exceeds his own that the perception of inequality kicks in. In our case, we can say that the short term workers take the permanent workers as the reference point.  If the workers feel that their contribution isn’t rewarded and add to it less job security than in comparison with the permanent workers, the fixed term staff tends to perceive inequality at the workplace. The thought of being at a disadvantage or being discriminated against results in the declining job satisfaction level of the fixed term employees (Cao, et. al., 2013)

This goes without saying that the permanent workers are more satisfied than their counter parts. At times getting a permanent job at all, never mind the terms and conditions of their service, is a major satisfaction level reached for the temporary workers. Another aspect of this is that the permanent employees don’t value their own jobs as much as the fixed employee would value theirs. Therefore, with a low threshold, the satisfaction level of the temporary workers can be enhanced only in valuation of their employment. As they have lower expectation levels, the fixed term workers are easily satisfied. (Van Dyne and Ang, 1998).  This argument is also supported by expectancy theory (Beckmann, et. al., 2008).

2.3.4 Effects of Short Term Employment to an Organizations

The temporary workers can be hired or fired by firms. The unemployed get started for job hunt to land another temporary work. There are two types of contracts that are explored: a permanent contract with no length of time period. However there is a constant renegotiation of wage at the start of each period, it could be annual for instance. It is not easy for firms to disengage from this kind of contract. The second type of contract is the temporary contract with a definite and fixed time period.  Once that time period lapses, the employer can relieve the employee of all his duties with no costs. If a firm feels that it should continue the relationship then the firm can upgrade the contract of the worker. This is accompanied a promotion costs and a small fee for the firm (Cao, et. al., 2013).

Unscheduled Turnover  

The firms by definition of the short term employment have the ending date fixed when they hire the temporary employees. That said, the firms can employ they short term employees and yet have more than necessary levels of the unscheduled turn over and deal with the dilemmas of short term employees (Breaugh and Starke, 2000).  The concept of unscheduled turn over implies that the short term workers leave their assigned task before the scheduled end date. From the workers’ perspective, the same phenomenon is called an early withdrawal (Backhaus and Tikoo,  2004).   The considerations of the past in terms of factors leading to early withdrawal may not apply today. However today managers are seeking to maximise the potential of the workers and in ways try to address the issues facing the short term employees.

In the past the firms invested very little if at all on the integration of the short term workers with permanent staff. That has started to change lately. It must be noted that failure on the part of firms to integrate the workers can escalate the problems of unscheduled turnover in the firms (Breaugh, 2008).  It also results in the workers not recognising their own potential and their gross lack of understanding of the job specifications and expectations of the firms from them in terms of contributing to the firm. Net result is their overall performance suffers.

 It was pointed out by (Feldman, 1990) that they very nature of job of the short term workers causes divided feelings of allegiance towards their organisations and other team workers.

Underemployment both in terms of employed hours and also in terms of suboptimal skill utilisation impacts negatively on the participation level of the workers (Beckmann, et. al., 2008). It was estimated that on an average the short term employees work 33.5 hours per week while the permanent workers work 39.5 hours a week. The greater work shows that they more involved and feel they belong to the firm. As the temporary workers on an average work six hours less than their permanent workers which adversely affect their job satisfaction levels as well.

 

 

Low morale 

In the past short term employees had a limited role. They used to be employed to fill up the causal vacancies when permanent employees are on leave for one reason or the other, or as make shift arrangements the short term employees would fill up the void until the organisations found suitable replacements or when the organisations expanded in terms of scope to handle peripheral matters in their work. This is different these days. Now short term employees are often tasked to do work which is considered core organisational work. This does seem to influence the morale. Reason being the short term employees are tasked to do the same work as the permanent employees but on less beneficial terms and conditions of the work. Also the short term employees with limited opportunities of exposure and consequently it affect the risk level in jobs (Bourhis and Wils, 2001).  A study showed that peripheral work is correlated to negative conditions notwithstanding the size, sector, or industry and it impacts the variables such as wage rates, job security, gender equality etc. as a rule (Harley, 1994). If these trends are any indicator than a major chunk of the workforce would face poor working conditions. For instance, in Australia most of the peripheral work falls in the lap of women, which further reinforces the prevalent trends in the society (Wandera, 2011).

 

As stated earlier, most of the temporary workers only enter in the short term employment in hope of permanent work in the same sector or industry (Hippel et al.  1997). However, the more a worker is employed in the short term employment the less likely is he going to develop the new skills necessary to become a part of the permanent staff. In a comparison drawn between the temporary and the permanent staff, it was noted that the former are less likely to choose their employment status (Bourhis and Wils, 2001).  A practical query raised in another study posed that how many temporary workers are actually employed to develop the requisite skills and gain the necessary experience to get promoted and elevated in their own area in a fixed amount of time and further how many of them find work or are likely to find work in the organisations they have been hired as temporary workers (Rogers, 2000). All this contributes in the low morale of the employees.

 

Low levels of employee productivity

With less work on average for temporary workers than their permanent counter parts, as expanded upon above, relates to their low levels of productivity as for host of reasons they feel they do not quite belong in comparison with their permanent workers who for them become the reference point and are very much in the thick of things including but not limited to longer work hours and decision making process within the organisations. For these reasons also, the firms allocate meagre resources on the training and development of the temporary workers (Wiens-Tuers and Hill, 2002). This in turn further cements the feelings of the second class workmanship among the temporary workers in the organisations.  As a result the temporary workers show less level of commitment and motivations in the organisations. This also reduces their capacity of work (Wandera, 2011).

 

2.3.4 The Chinese Construction Industry

China is the second largest economy in the world. The factors that have contributed to China’s rise are its industry and infrastructure (Songtao et al, 2011). In the modern times China has also come all guns blazing in the real estate industry and emerged as a progressive country with many a mega projects on their way. The golden era of China’s real estate industry is considered the time between 2005 and 2009. This time starkly changed the Chinese landscape and is loosely termed as the real property bubble in China. The prices of the house doubled in this era (Hao et al., 2011).  The big government in China is to a great extent architect of this era as it frames regulations and policies and manages these developments.  The intervention was long over-due of the Maoist state to cater to the one of the largest middle class in the world. The boom ended in the year 2011 with the intervention of the government (Jen et al. 2012). Nowhere is the role of human resource more pronounced as it is in China due to its labour intensive industries. The real estate industry more or less employs the temporary employees and can be classified as such sector since it takes on staff on project to project basis. Human resource is also vital in the context that strategies are used to retain those employees working in this sector. The mega project in this regard would be to accommodate more than a million people (Xiaoling et al. 2010). Human resource greatly benefits that business especially the real estate sector. The strategies devised in this regard are absolutely crucial and significant also because there is so much riding on the line. This study is going to scrutinize the strategic management of the employees that are both temporary and permanent in the real estate industry of China.

In China the backbone of economy has been its construction industry. Despite that, China suffers issues such as shortage of the skilled workforce in the industry. In China previously SOEs had the monopoly over the regulation of the workforce now they have to compete with the Joint Venture agreements involving other multinationals for the skilled workers. In China too, the Soviet-style driving factor has been incorporated. A worker is portrayed as the shining role model of the communist party and example as self-less worker contributing towards the society (Marinelli, 2001). In a start contrast to the west, the culture in China is communitarian and workers are encouraged to keep the society before their own interests and share the burden of responsibility with their fellow workers (Bruton, et., al. 2002). 

Though the Chinese communal culture has remained intact for centuries, however, due to globalism and investment by major MNCs in the construction industry has allowed the culture to evolve due to modernisation and western corporate governance style. The Chinese government has also to a large extent diluted its role as regulator (Yu, & Egri, 2005; Zhu,&  Dowling,  2000). The SOEs have also been cut to size and restructured. However, the traces of old Chinese HRM system remain there (Chow, 2004).

To understand the context of the motivation and retention in China, the influences on the HR policy need to be taken into account (Whitley et al. 2000). Staff retention is briefly the continuation of a contract between the employer and the employee and activities undertaken by the organisations to enhance job satisfaction and consequently retention thereof (Frey & Stechstor, 2007). Retention is closely connected with the profits and market share of the organisations (Chen, Chang, & Yeh, 2004; Branham, 2000).  Retention remains a core issue in both the developed and developing world. China on the other hand also suffers from pronounced turnover rate due shortage in the skilled staff (Millar, 2006). This is worse in terms of positions of the technical and managerial staff in SOEs. The reason for that is all the major countries in the world are in pursuit of attracting the skilled and talented staff (Watson, 2006) and China competes with the whole world in attracting the same. Not surprisingly, the best of Chinese brains are employed abroad in the leading organisations of the world (Zhang, and Wallace, 2008),

2.3.5 Facts that influence Chinese construction development

The rise of demand in the raw materials such as steel and cement are major influencing factors in the construction industry in China. The construction industry plans to house and provide services to 350 million people across China in the next 20 years. China has limited resources and great population. This disparity is cause of great concern for the Chinese. With urbanisation, China also needs to improve on its distribution in the construction sector. China in the modern times, is placed with unique challenges to create eco-cities in the world and be the world leader in establishing them by meeting its obligations of energy saving and environment conservation targets. With advancement in the technology, China also faces another form of challenge in the construction industry. (TUSAID, 2011)

2.4. Models relating to Strategic human resource management

There are a number of models which are applicable on the concept of SHRM (strategic human resource management). But it is important to understand the strategic management process, which the bigger companies follow.

2.4.1 Strategic Management Process

Table 2.1

 

(Kalleberg and Reynolds, 2003)

Current strategy which has been achieved by the managers consists of a step wise process. It originates from strategic history which the company possess. This history is similar for its management and employees as well. When the concept of strategic human resource management is discussed the mention of managers as well as employees is done. That is why even though the major decisions are taken by the management of the firm, but the carrying out of decision, transformation of strategies into actions are undertaken by the employees. For customers the firm’s point of contact is the employees, because they are ones with whom, they interact and deal on one-to-one basis. Current strategy is the final product which comes into being from the communication and interaction of the strategy which has been intended in the beginning and the actual strategy. When managers indulge into strategic planning only then a sound current strategy can be devised.  It also can be the result of a firm adapting to a strategy which is in accordance to current environment. Sometimes the upper management decided of a strategy which is far from reality and during the process of its implementation, it ends up being a totally different strategy. This kind of strategy is named as the emergent strategy, as it actually emerges from the series of events that takes places from on-going activities and actions from the market.

In order to decide whether the managers are satisfied with the current strategy or not they can take two approaches proactive approach less active approach. In the first one which is the proactive approach the firm run a full environmental scanning. The environment is scanned and analysed for any potential changes, either negative or positive. This will give the firm time to get prepared for the better or for worse. The companies which take the proactive approach perform always better at handling the future events as compared to the dormant firms. The other is the less active approach in which the firms do not invest money in the pre-emptive steps but proceed with their daily activities. They follow the traditional way, and are rigid to use other methods. These firms are not open to embrace change easily. And will only opt for it when the management after conducting several meetings decides that change is very important at this point in time. But this decision to bring the change also has followed these steps which the proactive approach has. The environmental scanning, performance, analysis of change effects, and the tendency of the firm to adapt to existing working conditions.

Or management may decide that the formulation of new strategy can be carried out without altering the external factors. It all depends upon the management that how will they go about it. Whether the analysis is internal (SWOT) or external (Porter Five Forces) the final decision always lies with the management. SWOT is the internal analysis is carried to know the organisation’s own strengths, whether it is capable of undertaking a particular task or not. This helps an organisation understand its internal strengths, weakness, the threats and opportunities in surroundings. And the second method Porter Five Forces is the external environmental scanning. This is the Porter Five Forces, where the organisation analyses the new entrants, new substitutes, barging powers of buyers and suppliers. Another way in which a change can take place in the strategy formulation is the new manager appointed. When the new manager replaces the older one, new ideas also replaces the older one. Fresh induction fresh thinking process, and hence fresh strategies are formulated. But whatever is the case, the two main steps have to kept in mind before strategy formulation,

• Environment analysis (external analysis)
• Organization analysis (internal analysis)

These two points have to be followed for a suitable strategy as it is the ideal way to go about this process.

The biggest mistake managers make is that they follow only the half process. In developing a new strategy they will either conduct an internal or external analysis instead of carrying out both. What these managers fail to understand that for a strategy to work successfully it is very important for it to have harmony between the capabilities it possesses to the opportunities the specific industry has to offer. This harmony is known by the name of strategic fit. This fit is picked up by the business intelligence of the firm and is felt by them. That is the moment when this opportunity if seized will benefit the organisation. If not then the opportunity is lost, and the managers have to wait for the time till a new opportunity arises. But till then external analysis is continuously being carried out, because an opportunity can arise anytime. The potential of an organisation to exploit the opportunity at right time depends upon the capability of the manager’s skills, and ability to make informed timely decisions. A window of opportunity stays open just for a short period of tie. Only intelligent and risk taker employees makes the best out of such events.

The process of environment analysis is segmented into four elements. These elements all interactive with each other. These elements are the general overall environment, the broad environment which is a blend of social, economic and political factors. The next one in line is the operating environment, which is related to the industry and business. The major questions of this factor are: what is the specific kind of industry in which the firm is performing, how is the structure of industry is made up depending upon the specific factors, what is the level of competition in the industry/ market, how is it examined, what are the inimitable qualities of the resources, what are main areas in which the companies focus, how is the niche handled is it preferred over the broad market or not.

The analysis of organisation dissects the qualities and strengths, and negative points of the organisation. It investigates how the firm is structured, what is the order of hierarchy for every level, how is the organogram developed, what is the order of reporting, and how is the work divided between the departments, groups and employees. It is important to throw some light on the infrastructure of the organisation. What information systems are used by company, the level of information technology dependency, what methods are used in budgeting system quality assurance, performance measurement etc.

It remains a question that are the beliefs of the members of the organisations, when they are trying to achieve something, what is the motivating force behind them, what is the main thing that they value the most? What are the cultural aspects of the organisation? The belief system? Do they have common goals or value system?

What resources are being used by the organisation at that time? The main resources are capital, people, and technology. The most important role of the management is to make a perfect fit of the internalities with externalities. This balances out the weakness of the organisation with the strengths that it possess. How the external and internal aspects are balanced and the bridge is filled, is by making use of the smart management, if the management takes bold and timely decision, the organisations can be saved from a lot of problems within time.  (Cao, et. al, 2013)

2.4.2 Evaluation of Models and Theories

SHRM is an abbreviation for Strategic Human Resource Management. It is a tool and concept which has been emerged as a by-product of twentieth century way of business. This concept has changed the way business management was carried out before that. This concept has gained so much popularity in a small span, that has been picked by higher top management in the government so that high performance can be squeezed out of it.

Little thought was given to the recruitment of the right workforce. Little investment has been made in the development of human resource, and the modes for industrial disciplines are in demise (Wells and Jill. 2001). The “hire and fire” is an additional conflict in industrial relations and gradually affecting the entire organization. The success to deliver compliance is impossible if the organization can’t handle this kind of dilemma.

Strategic human resource management can be understood in relation to wider political, economic and social movements. In relation to major shifts of ideas and underlying cultural organizational behaviour of both managers and workers, the SHRM influence is widely spread.

2.4.3 Application of Two Models

1. Guest Model of HRM

The Guest Model of HRM was first introduced in 2001 by Guest himself. The concept comprised of 6 dimensions, which analysed Human Resource Management in great detail. This model provides a comprehensive summary of Human Resource Management practices, the strategies at hand and what outcomes are produced as a result of the strategies and practices. The basic idea and concept of this model is based on the Human Resources Management approaches. And this basic approach is about having direct relationships with business consequences. 

Table 2.2

 

(Guest, 2001)

2. Compensation and Rewards

There is another system which is still evidentially monitored and practiced known as the compensation and rewards. Strategic Human Resource Management models are the one’s which aid the organisation in designing and developing organisation to produce the Human Resource Management systems. The compensation and reward theory is very useful and can play wonders in the employee’s relationships with the top management, the strategies used, and theory day-to-day business. When the employees are offered compensations and rewards, their motivation to work, and work well increases by manifold.

 

 

 

 

Table 2.3

(Rumpel, & Medcof, 2006).

Strategic planning

It is very important for an organisation that the management has some kind of long term and short term both plans. According to Oluwoe (Oluwoe, et al, 2003) strategic planning is tool used to develop goals for the organisation but for long term. The word strategic is usually referred to the long term aspect, for an organisation. The strategic planning for Construction Company, especially in the preferred country i-e China consists of the corporate objective, a complete scan of the internal and external analysis of the company’s environment in which business is carried out. Then the next step is to develop a concrete strategic plan, which consists of implementing the plan, monitoring the plan, and reviewing the steps when the needs is felt.

There are different type of innovations, and its competitive advantage to the organisations. In construction industry the innovations have to be of the type which are in accordance with the nature of the industry. The important ones are listed down.

• Innovation of technology
• Innovation of organization
• Innovation of production process
• Innovation of processes.

2.5.1 Gap between strategy, plan and reality

There has to be a coordination between the planning team of strategies and the execution team in the organisation. The communication gap can create a lot of hurdles in the operational side as according to Teague, if the strategy has  an excellent vision, and fits  perfectly with the situation at hand, but if there is a disconnect between the strategy developing and execution team, then the outcome, will not be as desired.

• Strategy itself is nothing just a bunch of ideas if they are not implemented and executed the way, they are planned. If the strategy fails to be implemented it has two categories
  • A strategy which has failed to be implemented the way it has been planned then it becomes just a random thought and idea. The value of that strategy becomes zero.
  • The strategy linked with the operational side, needs to have a quantifiable outcome. The kind which can be measured and counted, like the amount of sales, how many customers responded positively, how many customers were handled well etc. etc.
  • The strategic options which are related to the project, directly or indirectly actually adds to the project and is a part of the planning process.

2.5.2 Research Gap

The strategy which is specific to the construction industry are evaluated and identified by analysing the suitability of the strategies that are being used and incorporated by other industries in their planning and strategy formulation. This strategy is developed, analysed and explored by the strategy developers.

Moreover there are a way too many barriers in the industry for strategy human resource management to be applied in the industry. These barriers which do not let the strategy formulizers to implement the strategies, lead to the failure as long term goals cannot be implemented.

There is a need that the organisations should develop an evaluation criteria for strategy developing, as it leads to ta better, smoother and in detail process of strategy developing.

And in the last there is a huge impact of strategy on the combined efficiency and organisational goal, when the goals are in line with the strategy of the organisation.

Table 2.4

 

(Creswell, 2008)

2.6 Real Estate and Competitive Edge

Real estate industry is a vast industry, where the results are received simultaneously of the strategies formulated and efforts being put in. this industry requires in detail planning of the strategy formulation, a lot of choices have to be made with respect to which actions to be taken and which to be dropped for producing better results. The methods which were being used in the past, the strategies which were developed and implemented by the previous planners are not applicable anymore. This is because the times have changed, the needs have needs and so have the technology. Now the strategic management is a vast area, and any kind of strategy can be implemented, since the use of technology has opened many arenas. There remains a very big question mark, that how the strategy formulated does is moulded for a business point of view, and then how is it used to implement. Because things are different on paper but very different on ground. So how the management produces a strategic fit is the most important step.

In the construction industry the field work is immense, because which sometimes the real purpose of strategy is left behind ad the company starts heading to some other direction. The costs exceeds the limited budget and a lot of efforts have to be put in to bring them back to normal and improve the service given to the customers. These are one of the biggest challenges of the CRE companies (Corporate Real Estate). The companies are now trying new things, leaving the non-core business units behind as they are not as lucrative as core business, since new alliances can be very attractive and costs are also improved this way. CRE companies when have issues, can play a significant role that needs to have attention, for the decision making phases. In this sector the real estate business, new improvements are brought about in the business by focusing on the total occupancy costs. This means that all the items finally and slowly reach the financial statements of the company, where they are recorded.

Alliance boundaries are a mixture of both formal and informal interfaces. Formal interfaces encompass the control and reporting mechanisms set within the financial and legal governance agreement.

Informal interfaces are more difficult to quantify. This is because informal interfaces are often intangible in measurement terms being largely of subjective nature. Examples of informal interfaces include:

• Trust and Loyalty
• Individual Excellence
• Emotional Passion
• Social Networks

The most successful asset owner – service supplier partnerships that the author has witnessed are all underpinned by these informal interfaces. In affect the informal interfaces are the glue that binds alliance together to produce:

• Improved communication and information flow.
• Greater value to both partners as well as associated stakeholders, i.e. ratepayers and taxpayers.
•  

2.6.3 Chinese Construction Industry

The second largest economy of the world is China, which is due to its growth in industry, economy and infrastructure (Songtao et al, 2011). In the recent era the construction industry of China is a very progressive industry for the reason that it has been developed at large scale and it has many mega projects under its belt. The golden era for the Chinese real estate industry is considered between years 2005 to year 2009. This era is commonly known as the real property bubble in China. (Hao et al., 2011) have stated that during this period the prices of houses became double there in China. Government of China has a key role in both the public and private sector as it has full authority to set the developing rules and the prices and to regulate these set things. The boom period of real estate ended when the government intervened in year 2011, before that it went beyond the reach of middle class to purchase property (Jen et al. 2012). Human resource has a key role to play in not just real estate but in the construction industry in China because these are labour intensive industries.

The industry of construction has more classification of temporary and permanent employees for the reason that they work on the project basis. Thus, here the role of human resource becomes important to develop those strategies which would retain their employees. (Xiaoling et al., 2010) is of view that the expansion of above one million people would be accommodated as it’s a mega project. Human resource management is required in construction industry for the reason that it benefits the business ultimately. The on -going study would examine the impact of strategic management for management of temporary and permanent employees while considering the case of in the real estate industry of China. 

2.7 Theoretical Framework

The study has two variables. The independent and the dependent, it studies the effects of independent on the dependent variable and how they work together.

• strategic management  (independent)
• permanent and temporary employees’ management (dependent)

 

 

Chapter 3 - Research methodology

3.1. Introduction

While conducting a research study it is important to fully consider the importance of selecting appropriate research methodology as this plays an effective role in generating the most suitable research results. In this section of the research work, the methodology applied by the researcher is presented along with the justification for each method selected. Before the selection of a particular research method, the researcher carefully evaluates the options available and then selects the research method that is effective enough to achieve the research results.

This research work has been conducted to the effect of strategic management on the permanent as well as the temporary employees’ management. Strategic management is a topic which has always remained an interesting research topic for the researcher because there are so many things included in it to be learned out and investigated. In the current research the case of civil engineering Construction Corporation of China has been taken into account. The situation under consideration is being taken into account while selecting the research methods as the most appropriate methods when selected by the researcher, brings an ease in achieving the aim and objectives of the research.  Through, developing the research methodology the data collection will become easy for the research.

3.2. Research Methodologies Available

The choice of a suitable research methodology is dependent upon the kind of the problem which is at hand. The choices are plenty, but only the appropriate method of research is used which is in accordance with the nature of problem statement. It is a process that ads add surety to generate a strong research and brings a shape to the study (Cohen et al 2000).The research questions are designed in the introduction of the research as soon as the problem statement is identified. The research questions, provide transparently provides the description of the research methods. The following are the research questions and with them the appropriate methodology is listed.

• To what extent the management of permanent and temporary employees is affected by the strategic management process?

In this question it is visible that the quantitative research method will be used because it is the employees who can effectively respond to this research question. The data in this respect must be provided by the employees.

• Is real estate industry in China is practicing effective strategic management?

The effective strategic management is a kind of survey of the real estate industry in China. This is part of secondary data collection. The literature has presented information regarding the current scenario of strategic management in China.

However, there is again a need to use the critical thinking of the researcher. It is dependent on the knowledge, skills and abilities as according to Coe (2004). As it has been stated with the research questions that both the primary and the secondary data collection tools are used in the research and through these methods and tools information has been gathered. The primary source in this respect is the employees whereas the secondary sources are articles, books and the company information. In addition to this the philosophy used in the research becomes positivism because employees are the respondents of the research. This is a case research as can also been identified from the real estate industry in China. This is the basic research methodology and it can bring rigor to the research. Moreover, other methods and minor details regarding research methodology are explained in detail in the forthcoming headings of the research.

3.3. Quantitative versus Qualitative

The choice of the researcher about the research work is either qualitative or quantitative or both the qualitative and quantitative. According to some of studies, these choices also refer to as the research designs and all the research process is determined on the basis of the chosen research design. The main difference between the two is the type of data which is numeric in case of quantitative and non-numeric in case of qualitative. The type of research in which the researcher collects only one type of data using one technique for data collection and also a single corresponding technique for data analysis is a mono method research while the type of research in which the researcher for the purpose of answering the research questions, uses more than one technique for data collection and also more than one corresponding technique for analysis of the collected data refers to as a multiple method. However the techniques which are used for the collection of both the qualitative and quantitative data and also different corresponding procedures for analysis of data are applied refers to the mixed method. The different techniques followed in mixed method for data collection and data analysis can be used at the same time and also at different times (Gummenson, 2009).

3.3.1. Qualitative Versus Quantitative choice

All the research choices also called the research designs have their own purposes and advantages, but the one that has been chosen by the researcher for this specific research work in order to better compare the important of training and development at the organisations is the qualitative approach. According to the methods chosen earlier by the researcher and as per the requirements of this research work for answering the research questions, it is more appropriate to collect a quantitative data using quantitative data technique and analyse the data using quantitative data analysis technique (Craswell, 2009).

3.3.2 Justification

The choice for the research data and data analysis chosen by the researcher is qualitative and the reason behind the selection of this choice is that the researcher has chosen case study approach for deep comparison about the effect of strategic management on the permanent as well as the temporary employees’ management in Civil Engineering Construction Corporation operating in China. The quantitative choice for data collection and data analysis is a strong support to case study approach and deep insights about the importance of strategic management. 

3.4. Research Process

One of the most effective research designs that a researcher could follow in order to successfully complete the research work and generate research results that are useful in the selecting field of interest is the Saunders’ research onion. The reason that has made the researcher choose this research design is that it comprises of different layers and moving from the first to the very last layer, the researcher evaluates all the methods carefully and then selects the different methods of conducting the research process according to the problem under study. Every different layer of the Saunders’ research onion provides a complete set of the research methods from which the researcher could choose the most appropriate one for the research work.

3.4.1. Research philosophy

Although there are ten research philosophies briefly explained by Saunders’ research onion about their use and implications in the research studies. However the most widely used research philosophies are few of them. But it is important for every researcher to carefully consider all the different options for the research philosophies and then select only the one that seems to be most suitable for the achievement of the research aim and objectives. The research philosophy basically refers to the behaviour and attitude that a researcher needs to adopt in order to conduct the research work and get the most useful data for the research work. This greatly helps the researcher in the development of knowledge about the particular case under consideration. It determines the views of the researchers about a particular case and how the issue or problem could be resolved by applying a particular strategy. This also provides the researcher with a view how the research should be conducted. The strategy for carrying out the research process and the research methods differ at a considerable rate. There are ten distinct research philosophies but the most used research philosophies are three. The different research philosophies are as under:

3.4.1.1. Positivism

In this particular way, the researcher acts as a social scientist in order to develop particular knowledge about the case that is importance of training and development for the organisations. The researcher here prefers to work on factors of social reality that is observed and mostly the results that the researcher obtains by using this research philosophy are law like generalisations. The results are mostly the credible data and the researcher plans to apply such a research strategy that could bring the possibility of testing the hypotheses that are developed from the existing knowledge. Mostly the research collects the quantifiable data but the researchers can also adopt the qualitative methods and collect qualitative data. However the methodology in case when positivism is used as the research philosophy, is a highly structured one and this is why most of the researchers prefer positivism (Collis & Hussy, 2009).

3.4.1.2. Interpretivism

This philosophy greatly opposes the positivism in the sense that positivism reduces the complexity of the case to a few laws like generalisations while the area of business and management is very complex and that could not be explained using few law like generalisations. The focus of the researcher by adopting this philosophy is on the development of knowledge by using his own insights and deeply investigating the case under consideration. Most business and management related researches prefer to consider the interpretivism as their research philosophy only and only because of its focus on deep investigation and deep insights into the research phenomenon. However, this philosophy greatly involve the role of human as the social actors in the business and management world and the researcher at every step involves the influence of humans and influence on the humans but this is not the case always, and most of the researchers argue that humans should be involved in researches where the researcher plans to investigate the influence on them or their influence or role on other things of consideration (Saunders et al, 2007).

3.4.1.3. Realism

This philosophy deals with the fact that reality about the business situations is independent from what the mind thinks about it. According to this philosophy, the researcher is going to interpret about the research case whatever the researcher observes irrespective of the real facts about the case. However, there are many researchers that argue upon the fact regarding the realism that there are many things that one cannot see or is unable to observe, and the unseen observations also influence the variables under consideration. But the realism is opposite to this, and according to this philosophy, only those facts are revealed by the researchers that are observed. 

3.4.1.4. Research philosophy choice and justification

 In this study, the researcher aims at evaluating the importance of training and development and for this particular purpose, it is more appropriate to use positivism. The researcher from the point of view of previous researchers has identified the important role of training and development for the organisations and also revealed that it benefit the organisations in many ways. Thus the important facts identified by the researcher are being investigated by adopting the behaviour of a natural scientist and the generalisations made by the researcher of this study, regarding the importance of training and development are also subjected to possible testing.  

The use of positivism as research philosophy in this study has enabled the researcher to test the generalisations made by the researcher. Furthermore, it also enabled the researcher to systematically conduct the research work. Also positivism has proved to be useful in achieving the purpose of this particular research work that is to the effect of strategic management in permanent and temporary employees. This philosophy also brings the possibility of carrying out the further researches on the particular field of interest as far as possible and also in a value free-way.

3.4.2. Research approach

Every research project involves certain theories and the preliminary literature. Sometimes the theories are clear and sometimes they are not clear to the researcher so that they could be used in the research work or assumptions could be made on the basis of those theories. These affect the research findings and the conclusions drawn by the researchers about the problem taken into consideration. The researcher on the basis of the theories and the preliminary research work, which are in support of the problem area, takes decision regarding the selection of a particular research design. The researcher then either selects the deductive approach or inductive approach.

3.4.2.1. Deductive approach

In this approach, the aim of the researcher is to develop a theory or a hypothesis and then selection of an appropriate research strategy for the purpose of data collection in order to test the theory or hypothesis. This approach owes much to a scientific research and is considered as one of the dominant research approaches in case of natural sciences. The laws generated or developed by the researcher explain the problem area, further the occurrences of the problems are predicted and also permission for control of the situation is allotted. Using deduction as the research approach, the researcher is being provided with a guideline about the steps to be followed. The main characteristics of this approach are the explanation of casual relationship among the chosen research variables, development of a hypothesis on the basis of discussed preliminary literature or the theories, collection of either qualitative or quantitative data or both the qualitative and quantitative data, control over the research process and research variables in order to test the developed theory or hypothesis (Creswell, 2009). It is important to use a highly structured research methodology when adopting a deductive approach as it would allow replication and higher degree of research reliability is ensured in this way. Another important characteristic of the deductive approach is the generalisation as this also allows the researcher to deal with large sample and collect data from them.

3.4.2.2. Inductive approach

This approach allows the researcher to better understand the problem by deeply investigating the case under consideration. This is mostly conducted interviews and gaining sufficient information about the research problem. However this approach is different from deductive approach in the sense that after the collection of research data and analysing the data regarding the problem area, theory is formulated. During the research process, the researcher also gets the opportunity to identify various other factors related to the research area. The use of inductive approach increased with the emergence of the social sciences and the increased investigations into the area of concerns related to social sciences because the deduction only dealt with the formulation of hypothesis and testing of causal relationships, however the inductive approach played an important role in investigation about the problem and development of a theory (Creswell, 2009). Furthermore, the researcher considers a small sample size and thinks of it as more appropriate and collection of qualitative data is preferred.

3.4.2.3. Research approach choice

The deductive approach has the most appropriation with the aim and objectives of this study, thus the researcher has used the deductive approach. There is a lot research work and discussion on the effect of strategic management on permanent and temporary employees. Previous researchers have identified various important aspects of training and development which have been briefly demonstrated in various research works. Therefore, the researcher chose the deductive approach.

3.4.3. Research strategy

The process used for conducting research work at a particular place refers to the research strategy. More importantly, there are few research strategies that are being used with the deductive approach while others are relevant with the inductive approach. All the researcher strategies are equally important for the researchers to serve the very definite research purposes. It enables the researchers to answer the research questions and to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. The choice of the researcher regarding the research strategy for a particular research study and a particular research purpose depends upon the research aim and objectives, the amount of knowledge available about the research problem, the available time and other research resources and also upon the research philosophy chosen by the researcher. There are seven different research strategies.

3.4.3.1. Experiment

The research strategy experiment is used in most of the researches related to natural sciences however it is now gaining much importance in the field of social sciences. This research strategy is used when the focus is on the study of causal links between the research variables. There is very low feasibility for this research strategy to be used in many businesses and management related researches because most of the people do not like to become part of such a research work and also this strategy is quite complex and expensive (Voss et al., 2002).

3.4.3.2. Survey

This research strategy has most appropriation with the deductive approach and one of the most commonly used inexpensive research strategy used by the business and management researchers. The research questions raised by the researchers are efficiently answered by the researchers using this approach. One of the other most important aspects of using this research strategy is that it is easily understandable and explainable. This strategy can also be used to identify the causal relationships and suggest the reasons for the relationships between the research variables using questionnaires administered by the researcher. The researcher has control over the research variables and research process (Denscombe, 2003).

3.4.3.3. Case study

In this research strategy, the researcher uses multiple research evidences in order to investigate the research phenomenon. The characteristics of this research strategy are controlled research context and limiting the context of the research. However this is a useful research strategy where the researcher wants to gain considerable amount of understanding about the research phenomenon. This is an effective strategy for exploring the effectiveness of the existing data and theory about the research context (Voss et al., 2002).

3.4.3.4. Action research

This research strategy is based on four main themes that are focus and emphasis upon the following main research aspects:

• The research purpose
• Involvement of the researchers and practitioners and collaboration between them thus making the researcher a part of the research process and the organisation on which the focus of the research is
• Identification, planning and appropriate actions for evaluation of the research findings about the research problem and research phenomenon
• Implications of the research findings beyond the current research project

3.4.3.5. Grounded theory

In this research strategy, both the research approaches that are deductive and inductive are combined to collect the research data and build the theory which is in simplest possible form, the main aim behind the use of grounded theory. The behaviour is predicted and explained and the main emphasis of the researcher is on the theory building. This strategy is considered as useful in exploring most of the business and management issues (Stauss and Corbin, 1990).

3.4.3.6. Ethnography

This strategy is strongly used with the inductive approach as this focuses on describing and explaining the social world issues. The researcher using this strategy has to immense his self in the social world and become part of the research work. Therefore, it is a very time consuming strategy. The research process then needs to be highly flexible as the researcher according to the changes noted during the research process develop new research patterns in order to get the research aim and objectives achieved. This strategy could not be referred as a dominant research strategy used in business and management researches but one could use this strategy when the intentions of the researcher is to gain rich insights about the research problem. However higher degree of trust is involved in using this type of research strategy and the researcher needs to set a group they could answer the research questions and could guarantee full access to the information required by the researcher (Denscombe, 2003).

3.4.3.7. Archival research      

The researcher by using archival research as the research strategy use all the documents and records related to an organisational management in order to answer the research questions as these documents are the principle data sources. The focus of this strategy is on collection and analysis of real data maintained by an organisations rather than collection of research data for specific research purpose. The answer to the research questions of the study are limited and restricted only to the records of the organisations. Precision and accuracy of the organisational records is important for the successful and effective completion of the research work. The main issues related with this research strategy are that sometimes the data may not be accessible and may be highly confidential.  

3.4.3.8. Research strategy choice Justification

Case study research strategy has been used by the researcher in achieving the aim and objectives of this study and answering the research questions. Case study allowed the researcher to deeply investigate the area under consideration. Case study is an effective research strategy which allows the researcher to answer the research questions in an appropriate manner by gaining rich insights about the research context.

The limitation of the research is mentioned in the following points

• Strategic management is a process which is used in every organization and through this process the company develops its long as well as short term vision. The use of the civil engineering construction company is valid but there is a need to survey this issue in other organizations as well. Therefore the research should have used survey method instead of case study approach.
• Another limitation of the research is of generalizability. The research implications cannot be used in other parts of the world.
• The qualitative as well quantitative research design can unveil better results

3.6 Chosen Sample and Sample Size

As already mentioned above case study research strategy has been used in achieving the aim and objectives of this study and answering the research questions. For this purpose a questionnaire has been developed to conduct a survey. The case study in this research study chosen is the Chinese construction company by the name of, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is chosen. The impact of strategic management on the permanent and temporary employee’s management has to be analysed. For this purpose the survey is conducted between temporary and permanent employees of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The sample size selected is 100, with a breakdown of 50 permanent and 50 temporary employees. The survey is based on a series of structured questions which are answered on a likert scale that produces solid quantitative data.

3.6. Summary

In this chapter the researcher has provided the methodology which is consistent with the problem statement. The contents of the research methodology include the research process having the research strategy, the philosophy and approach to do a research. In addition to this the research methods have been thoroughly justified.

 

 

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This part of the research study deals with the analysis and interpretation of data collected. Conclusions are deduced making use of the data. The analysis of the data collected depends upon the nature of the study. If the study is quantitative in nature then the interpretation is carried out using softwares like SPSS, correlation, regression analysis etc. It also uses excel, bar charts, pie diagrams, histograms etc. for interpretation. Data In this research study the aim is to develop a strategic management framework for the effective delivery of the permanent and temporary staff for real estate in China. This analysis includes data collection from the employees of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. A questionnaire is circulated among the employees of the company to investigate their take up on how the temporary and permanent employees are treated at work place. This data is analysed by using Microsoft Excel, Bar charts, Pie diagrams, Histograms etc.,

4.2 SAMPLE SIZE

The data is collected using quantitative techniques as the data is collected using questionnaire. This questionnaire is distributed between a total of 100 employees 50 permanent and 50 temporary employees, as both categories have varying needs and preferences. This means that the sample size chosen is 100. The geographic location for the particular research study is China.

4.3 ANALYSIS

Q1. I am working on Permanent basis/Temporary basis?

 

Scale	Permanent	Temporary
Percentage	65	35

 

 

Graph 4.1

 

The breakup of employees in terms of permanent and temporary show it that the organisation has a higher ratio of permanent employees. Although it is beneficial in monetary terms for the organisation to have temporary employees since their pay scale is low, and the benefits offered by the organisation is always less for them. But still companies prefer to have permanent employees, because their turnover rate is less. Therefore the structural make up of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is no different from other and is permanent employee centric with a ratio of 65:35. This means that the company has 65 % permanent employees and only 35 % as temporary employees.

Q2. What is your Gender?

 

Scale	Male	Female
Percentage	80	20

 

 

 

Graph 4.2

 

The survey is carried out without any bias of male or female. The researcher wanted pure results and strictly followed gender equality. Since China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation as evident from its name is a construction company, which has a male dominant sector. The number of females is far less than that of males, because it is a hard stringent work which only men are expected to do. The few positions that women occupy are more of managerial and coordinator role, but no front line manager position are assumed by women. The survey results of case study shows that the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has 80 % of men and only 20 % of women in their work force.

Demographics:

Table 4.1

Demographics
Demographics	No. of Employees	Percentage
Age
20-30	25	25 %
30-40	40	40 %
40+	35	35 %
Gender
Male	80	70 %
Female	20	30 %
Status
Permanent Employees	65	65 %
Temporary Employees	35	35 %

 

The ages of the employees are categories into three parts between 20-30, 30-40 and 40+. The last one covers up all the employees who live above 40 years of age. These employees have been disturbed with questionnaires to fill for information gathering. The gender column clearly shows that male population is dominating among the top and middle managers. The concept of glass ceiling is applied here, and the construction industry rarely has women on top position. Out of 100 employees only 35 positions are occupied by women. The job duration is sub divided into three categories. It is not a day’s game to reach the top level in a firm. Employees have to give their good portion of career to that specific firm so employees who were involved in the survey have at least 5 years and above of job experience.  The research study revolves around the concept of permanent and temporary employees. This survey has a sample size of 100 which consisted of 50 permanent and 50 temporary employees. But the overall ratio in which the temporary and permanent employees are hired is a lot more different. The company has major portion of work force as permanent, and therefore they have different set of rules and policies for them. The smaller portion is temporary. The permanent employees are in a percentage of 65 % whereas the temporary employees just make up 35 % of the entire workforce.

Q3.      Our company practice strategic management using marketing, HR, Finance and administration in all business units

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			25					35	15	20	05

 

Graph 4.3

 

In the survey the employees were inquired about strategic management practice regarding the application of marketing, HR, Finance and administration across all business units which turned out to have varying results. The employees despite of being permanent or temporary have similar view points about this topic.  Out of the hundred (100) employees among whom the questionnaires were distributed 25 % strongly agreed that the organisation uses all the strategic management tools, 35 % agreed with the question. Moreover 15 % employees said they are neutral to the topic. They neither agree nor disagree with the strategic management practices of the organisation. But on the contrary 20 % employees disagreed with the statement and 5 % strongly disagreed. They said that the company has poor strategic management process. But the disagreeing percentage amounts to only 25 % whereas the agreeing percentage is 50 %. This shows that maximum number of employees are happy with the strategic management process across all business units of the organisation.

Q4. The organization consider you to play key role in the accomplishment of goals?

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			39					36	12	08	05

 

For Permanent Employees

Graph 4.4.

 

It is very important for an organisation to make an employee feel a part of the organisation. Unless or until the organisation gives the employees the liberty to make decision at daily basis, have a say in strategic decisions and work with all heart and soul for the organisation only then the goals will be accomplished in a successful manner. The organisation has a blend of both permanent and temporary employees. Both of these categories are treated differently and varying needs and preferences. Therefore they have a different position and statuses in the company.

In case of permanent employees, the company offers them more perks and privileges. The policies for this category is relaxed, and have more benefits and bonuses, which is a very big incentive to work. Therefore the answers to the question that whether the company makes you feel an important part of the organisation the permanent employees gave very positive responses. Out of the 50 permanent employees 39 % strongly agreed, 36 % agreed, 12 % stayed neutral, 8% disagreed with the statement and 5 % strongly disagreed. This makes a total of 75 % of employees agreeing to the statement. Hence the overall responses are considered to be positive, implies permanent employees are happy with their organisation and are considered as an important part of the company.

For Temporary

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			12					15	08	35	30

 

Graph 4.5

 

In case of temporary employees the case is totally different. The incentives and perks offered to them is limited. The policies and rules which are applied to them are quite different than those of permanent employees. This can be frustrating at times, but then that’s the difference between in being a permanent employee and temporary employee. Their input is usually taken till a limited part, after that the temporary employees do not have a say because they are not familiar with the policies and rules of the organisation. Keeping in mind that, the responses of temporary employees is justified when only 12 % strongly agree, 15 % agree, 8 % stayed neutral, while 35 % disagreed and 30 % strongly disagreed with the statement this makes 65 % of the temporary employees disagreeing that they are not made to feel a part of the organisation.

Q5.      Is it your responsibility to work for the development of organization? 

For Permanent

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			39					36	12	08	05

 

Graph 4.5

 

When the permanent employees are made to feel a part of the organisation and have a say in the important decision, then automatically they feel at home. And because of this they feel as if the company is their own, which makes them work for the betterment of the organisation. Hence permanent employees strongly believe that it is their duty and responsibility to work for the development of organisation. Hence 39 % employees strongly agree with the statement, 36 % agree. The sum of these two feeds makes it a good 75 % of the responses, hence the majority of employees have voted in the favour of the statement, that it is important and duty of the employees to work for the development of the organisation.

For Temporary

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			12					15	08	35	30

 

Graph 4.6

 

According to temporary employees as opposed to permanent employees are not treated the same way. But then that is how both the categories have been defined. Because of this there is a difference in ways the employees react to the organisations. Their attitudes is designed by the environment and treatment given to them. Therefore when they are not given equivalent rights, perks, benefits. They are not made to feel a part of the organisation, do not have a say in important decisions then the temporary employees do not think it is their duty to work for the development of the organisation. In extension to that only 12 % employees strongly agreed to the statement, 15 % only agreed, 8 % stayed neutral. Moreover on the other hand 35 % disagreed that it is not their duty and responsibility to work for the development of organisation. And 30 % strongly disagreed. This makes the disagreeing part to a total of 65 % out of the 100 %. This represent a huge portion, which shows that temporary employees do not own the organisation, and feel no duty or responsibility towards its development.

Q6. The overall organizational roles are linked with the strategic human resource management?   

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			30					35	08	12	15

 

Graph 4.7

 

The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is a company where the organisational roles are well connected and linked with the strategic human resource management process. This is one of the reasons that this organisation is so successful in China. Being one of the top notch corporations in construction sector, the company has maintain its high level standards and strategic human resource management processes. The employees are also aware of this fact, as it has benefited them in a lot of ways. In light of this, 30 % of employees have strongly agreed to the statement, 35 % agreed, 8 % preferred to stay neutral. Whereas only 27% employees disagreed to the fact. This is a small portion as compared to the 65 % agreeing employees.

Q7. Our organization doesn’t end up losing the competitive employee

For Permanent

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			39					36	12	08	05

 

Graph 4.8

 

This question have varying answers. Since here is a difference between how the employees are being treated so temporary have different responses as compared to permanent employees. Therefore an employee would behave the way he/she is being treated. When there is stark difference between two pools of employees, then obviously these two pools of people will behave differently from each other. The permanent employees responded positively that the organisation is very well kept in this matter. It doesn’t lose its valuable employees, because they are happy and satisfied in their current job roles. 40 % of employees strongly agrees, 36 % agreed. This makes almost 80 % of employees agreeing to the statement, thus the permanent employees are made to feel a part of the organisation, given perks and privileges. Therefore they are more than happy to stay in the organisation and work for the betterment of the company.

For Temporary

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			12					15	08	35	30

 

Graph 4.9

 

The temporary employees have a higher rate of turn over. This is because of the treatment they get at the organisation. They always compare themselves with the perks and privileges of the permanent employees and feel dejected. This does not me that there is any unfair treatment with the temporary employees, because if they are not rewarded as much as the permanent employees then there is also a difference in work load as well. But at the end of the day, it’s the perks and privileges which employees measure and get discouraged. Because of which the turn over arte in temporary employees is great, since they do not have a fixed term contract, they work on a short period of time, mostly on hourly bias. Therefore the switching cost for them is very low. 30 % employees strongly disagreed, 35 % employees disagreed. On the other hand only 12 % and 15 % employees agreed and strongly agreed to the statement, this makes it a negative response, and makes the maximum responses as negative.

 

Q8. The Organization activities are aligned with the employees’ activities

For Permanent

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			39					36	12	08	05

 

Graph 4.10

 

China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has structured and formulated its activities in a way that they are in accordance with the employee activities. Once when both the activities are lined together on a similar page then there is no turning back for an organisation to go on a success path. As already mentioned there are a lot of privileges for temporary employees in this organisation. This is not the case for only China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, but for 90 % of the organisations. Therefore the permanent employees responded positively that their activities and the company’s activities are in accordance with each other. Almost 70 % of employees agreed wholly to the statement which shows that maximum number of employees believe that the organization activities are aligned with the employees’ activities.

 

For Temporary

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			12					15	08	35	30

 

Graph 4.11

 

The temporary employees have varying responses, as they do not think that the organisation China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has planned the activities of in accordance with the activities s of employees. Since the temporary employees are not aware of all the rules and policies of the company and have access to only a part of the firm. Therefore, the firm does not invest that much on them. Therefore 60 – 65 % of employees claimed that the organisation gave negative responses.

Q9. The integration of human resource strategies and organizational strategies is a necessity?

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			35					35	14	10	6

 

Graph 4.12

 

China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is a well-structured organisation, where the human resource strategies and the organisational strategies are integrated with each other. This integration, links everything, and a change in one aspect will create an automatic change in the other. Therefore in light of these facts, the employees have responded positively to this statement. 35 % of employees strongly agreed, and an equal number of employees agreed. This cult makes almost 70 % of the employees agreeing to integration of activities. Therefor the rest of 30 % does have any major significance in this regard.

Q10. The organizational structure is informal (Bureaucratic)?

 

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			39					36	12	08	05

 

Graph 4.13

 

The organisation is government owned, therefore the power is distributed among many layers and hierarchies. There are numerous channels and tyres of employees, before the senior official is reached. In terms of employees, who work in this organisation, claim that the structure is highly bureaucratic. A good solid number of employees strongly agreed 39 % and agreed 36 % to the fact that it has a bureaucratic structure. Rest of the small number have not responded in its favour.

Q11. The organizational structure is formal (Autocratic)?

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			12					15	08	35	30

 

 

 

 

 

Graph 4.14

 

As the organisation is a government owned setup and not a private company, owned by a single owner. Therefore he power is not centrally rested. But the control of the company is distributed amongst many, and it follows a Bureaucratic structure. The respondents claim that they do not agree with the statement and 65% employees disagreed with it. The rest 35 % agreed, strongly agreed or stayed neutral.

Q12. Our organization have any differences among temporary and permanent employees?

For Permanent

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			26					19	36	15	4

 

 

 

 

Graph 4.15

 

The permanent employees are receiving everything and do not feel the need to raise their voice. This is evident from their responses. 26 % strongly agreed that there is a difference between the two categories. Whereas 19% just agree. Interestingly 37 % employees are neutral, they do not care about the difference, as long as their work is being carried out smoothly. On the other hand 20% employees disagree with the statement.

For Temporary

Scale		1					2		3	4	5
		Strongly Agree					Agree		Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
Percentage			38					35	05	12	08

 

Graph 4.16

 

The difference is present but temporary employees are the ones at the receiving end. Therefore they fell, the pain of differentiation more as compared to the permanent. 38 % employees strongly agree, 35 % agree, only 5% were neutral and 22% disagree.

4.4 CONCLUSION It can be concluded that no matter how hard an organisation tries to create a balance between employees, difference occurs. This Chinese construction firm has two categories of employees, the permanent and the temporary. Both the streams have different hiring procedure, salary range, and work load, job description and work tenure. Similarly both have varying perks and privileges offered. This creates a divide between the two, and the temporary employees feels dejected and have no motivation to work.

 

 

 

Chapter Five

5.0 Conclusion

This is the chapter where the entire research study is converged at one point. The varying view points, data collection, analysis are brought in a consolidated form, which is easily understandable by everyone even a layman.

5.1 Introduction

This study, revolves around how the strategic management process impacts the permanent and temporary employee management in construction industry.  The research settings has been placed in China, therefore the construction industry of China has been extensively studied and how the temporary and permanent employees are managed using different strategic approaches.

5.2 Discussion and Conclusion

The discussion for this study has been derived from analysing a sample size of 100 employees from China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. This 100 sample size has been divided into two parts, 50-50. One half consisted of temporary employees of the organisation while the other half permanent employees. Both the halves are distributed with close ended well-structured questionnaires. The survey gave the researcher data which is used for analyses.

It can be concluded that the ratio of permanent to a temporary employees in the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is higher. The survey results that the number of permanent employees is almost more than twice the number of temporary. This shows that more preference is given to hire permanent employees, as it does takes a lot of effort, time and resources to train a new employee. Thus he/she leaving the job, because of being temporary can cost big time to the corporation. Moreover the survey also showed that the male employees outnumber their female counterparts whether temporary or permanent, as construction is a male dominating sector.

More permanent employees feel strongly that they are being made a part of the organisation as compared to the temporary employees. This is intact true as the senior management gives more importance to the permanent employees when the times for promotions, increments, and perks comes. The temporary employees no matter how much work, they are not treated equal in this regard. The permanent employees are when given more attention and importance as compared to the temporary employees, then they feel much more responsible and accountable for the tasks they are assigned to. This aspect is also visible form the survey results that the rate of turnover is also high in temporary employees because of the factor of job satisfaction. The permanent employees when have more perks and privileges thus are more satisfied from their job roles. The temporary employees leave the job for better opportunities as the market has a lot of openings.

But one thing which both the temporary and permanent employees agreed upon is that the importance of integration of strategic management and organisation’s activities. This is a vital step in the success of a company, as till the times there is no integration, the activities will not be aligned with the goals and purpose of the organisation.

5.3 Compatibility with study Objectives

Every research study has a number objectives, which makes the basis of the study. This research study also has a couple of research objectives, which laid the foundation for the researcher to carry on and expand the research study further. These objectives are listed below:

• To scrutinize the effectiveness of strategic management in human resource management with the help of the available literature. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the secondary data collection.
• To analyse the employee management techniques in the real estate industry of China. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the secondary data collection.
• To examine the existing practices and priorities in the context of the real estate industry of China for managing permanent employees. This objective will be accomplished with the help of the primary data collection.
• To develop strategic management for the real estate staff. This objective will be accomplished with the help of analysis of collected data and information through qualitative techniques.

These objectives have been combined with the analytical tools and a complete set of data has been extracted for further analysis.

The first objective has been accomplished as for the collection of literature review, extensive research has been carried out, which has greatly helped the researcher to understand the concept of SHRM and its effects on the management of permanent and temporary employees. The use of secondary sources like books, articles, journal, e-journals has not only helped in collection of required data, but in the meanwhile has aided to the knowledge of the researcher. A lot of many terms concerned with the construction industry have been added to the researcher’s vocabulary and now is in a position to carry out a detailed discussion with anyone. 

The second objective to understand the management of employees in China, how they are being managed, what are the important steps and techniques which the Chinese managers and officials use to manage their employees. It has not only been known by the help of the secondary data collection but is a known fact that the working conditions for employee are not very favourable. That is the reason behind the high churn over rate. This reason coupled with temporary employees, the factor of loyalty is very rare, in the worker class of China, because they are more inclined towards the place where they are being offered a better package.

The third objective is to understand and know the techniques of dealing with the employees of construction industry. The information for this camping has been collected from the sample size of the study. The employees are the best respondents as they know the best that how the m or their fellow’s employees respond how and when. This data their moods, likes dislikes are collected using the employees as the sample for the study. Every employees is considered as one entity. The employees have been distributed with questionnaires, which is an important aspect of a survey.

 The fourth and last objective is to develop strategic management for the employees of the company, in order to be in a position to make all these decision, cameos a lot of responsibility. For this purpose the data that has been collected using the questionnaire survey method, is analysed. The data collected came out to be quantitative and as per the requirement.

5.4 Hypothesis Acceptance

This research study follows a set of three hypothesis, which have been tested using the data collected.

These hypothesis are

H: 1. Strategic management has a positive impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

H: 2. Strategic management has a negative impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

H: 3. Strategic management has no significant impact on management of the permanent and the temporary employees in real estate China.

After deducing the results and studying the data, its can be concluded that yes strategic management does have a positive impact on the management of permanent as well as temporary employees of China. Thus this means that the hypothesis H1 is accepted and H2, H3 stands rejected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Appendix Questionnaire

I am currently studying in …… University for my MA of …….. dissertation. My research topic focuses on “How the strategic management affects the permanent and temporary employees’ management –case of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation is considered”. I can assure you that any information collected during the research will be confidential and anonymity and it only will be used for research purpose. I would greatly appreciate it if you could complete the questionnaire and please return the questionnaire before …… (Date)  by email contact. My email address is: …….

Please provide your response for the following questions

1. I am working on                                                          Permanent basis/Temporary basis
2. What is the effect of strategic management on employee management?                                                                                                                              Positive/Negative

 

On a scale of one to five please provide your responses to the following questions with 1 being strongly agree and 5 being strongly disagree.

3. Our company practice strategic management using marketing, HR, Finance and administration in all business units‍

 

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

 

4. The organization consider you to play key role in the accomplishment of goals?

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

5. Is it your responsibility to work for the development of organization?                    

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

                             

6. The overall organizational roles are linked with the strategic human resource management?                     

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

                                               

7. Our organization doesn’t end up losing the competitive employee

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

8. The Organization activities are aligned with the employees’ activities

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

9. The integration of human resource strategies and organizational strategies is a necessity?

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

10. The organizational structure is formal (Autocratic)?            

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

11. The organizational structure is Informal (Bureaucratic)                    

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

 

12. Our organization have any differences among temporary and permanent employees?                                                              

1	2	3	4	5
Strongly Agree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Strongly Disagree