All procedures for the collection of data that involves human subj ects were carefully adhered to and overseen by the university's human ethics committee. Ethical issues and strategies employed for dealing with these issues are discussed below.
3.5. 1 Access to Participants and Informed Consent
Lists containing the contact details of the firms that were invited to participate in the study were purchased from a commercial database supplier. From these lists, research participants were recruited through letters sent to owner-managers of firms (see Appendix A and E) and through follow-up telephone calls. To recruit participants for the initial qualitative study, each owner-manager was asked to take part voluntarily in an interview, and to also seek a volunteer employee within the firm to participate in an interview. To recruit participants for the mail survey research, a letter was sent to each owner-manager that requested the owner-manager (a) to volunteer to the firm's participation in the survey; or (b) merely allow the researcher access to employees in the owner-manager's firm with the view to recruiting voluntary participants. Participation by the firm (option a) is similar to option (b), but (a) suggests a higher level of owner-manager 'buy-in' to the survey. The most appropriate method of contacting employees about the survey were discussed with those owner-managers who agreed to either firm level participation in the survey, or who merely allowed access to employees.
In regard to informed consent, before commencing each interview with the volunteers, an Information Sheet (see Appendix B) was given to the participant and its content explained. The participant then signed the Informed Consent Form (see Appendix D). With the permission of the volunteer owner-manager, and that of the volunteer employee, separate tape-recorded interviews were conducted. An Information Sheet (see Appendix F) was enclosed with each mail survey questionnaire and contained a statement that, 'completion and return of this anonymous survey implies consent' .
3.5.2 Confidentiality and Anonymity
Promises of confidentiality and anonymity were rigorously adhered to. In regard to the initial qualitative study, all paper copies of raw data and audiotapes are stored in locked cabinets in the researcher's office at Massey University. Data in electronici'
f
ormat is stored on the Massey University server and i s accessible only by the researcher using a secure password. The person who transcribed the audiotapes signed a confidentiality agreement. Reported results are summarised in a manner that will preserve the anonymity of the respondents. In regard to the anonymous mail survey, answers to questionnaire items are strictly confidential and will be released only as summaries in which no individual's answers can be identified. Organisation specific summary statistics were provided to only those firms with a response rate of 50% or greater. Thus, it was not possible to identify anindividual employee respondent with his or her responses. 3.5.3 Promises and Reciprocity
Each owner-manager and employee who participated in the initial qualitative study was provided with a summary of the findings of this phase of the study. The owner-managers of firms that participated in the mail survey were also provided with the results for their firms. Some employees in these firms requested a copy of the mail survey results, and these requests were met.
3.6 SUMMARY
This chapter described the research design, and qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry employed for the current study. It began by identifying limitations of prior research in the area. Then the research design for the current study was explained and justified. Procedures for conducting both the initial qualitative descriptive study and the quantitative descriptive study were described in detail. The chapter included a discussion of strategies to address ethical concerns in carrying out the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
HOW MANAGERS FOSTER EMPLOYEES' LEARNING
As described in more detail in Chapter Three, the exploratory descriptive part of the current study involved semi-structured interviews with owner-managers, managers, and non managers in small manufacturing firms ( 1 0-49 employees) located in the Wellington region. Verbatim expressions of the interview participants were analysed using content analytic procedures. This chapter presents findings of the content analysis of verbatim expressions of the seventeen participants and discusses the relationships between the findings and the literature. The research questions (initially introduced in Chapter Three) guiding this part of the analysis were:
1 . Are managers perceived as creating conditions in the work environment that are favourable to employee learning?
2. What kinds of developmental interventions are managers using to foster employee learning?
The organising framework that was used to begin sorting the interview data consisted of the three levels of analysis of the work (learning) environment, and five common types of developmental interventions managers use (see Table 3 .5). Figure 4. 1 presents these eight organising framework categories and serves as an organiser for the analysis that follows.
Levels of analysis of the work environment Organisational
Social Physical
Figure 4.1.
Framework guiding presentation of the findings
Developmental interventions On-the-job training Coaching Mentoring Delegation Performance appraisal
Discussion of the findings of this part of the current study thus addresses ( 1 ) the effects of managers on salient elements of work environments that influence informal workplace learning and (2) the types of employee development interventions used by managers in the small manufacturing firms studied. The dominant themes of the respondents are illustrated by quotations. In the discussion that follows, insights from this part of the current study are linked to existing theory, and where appropriate, links between the context of the current study and other contexts are also established.
Table 4. 1 provides basic details about the organisations and interview participants. To protect his or her identity, each participant (P) has been assigned a number from 1 - 1 7, and actual names used in the illustrative quotations have been changed.
Table 4. 1
Organisations and interview participants
Type of manufacturing Number of Job title of interviewee
Architectural aluminium 1 0 Company manager (P 1 )
Cake and 1 3
Cake and pastry 1 6 Owner-manager (P3)
(P4)
Commercial art and display 42 Owner-manager (PS)
services Administration director (P6)
Commercial furniture 25 Marketing manager (P7)
hand (P8)
Commercial printing 25 Production team leader (P9)
Production worker (P 1 0)
Ice cream 30 (P l l )
Industrial machinery and 23 Owner-manager (P I 2)
Foreman (P I 3)
Sheet metal products 20 Owner-manager (P I 4)
(P 1 5)
Transport equipment 1 8 Owner-manager (P 1 6)