Introduction
Turnover is related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Turnover occurs when employees leave an organization and have to be replaced. Many organizations have found that turnover is a costly problem. In many service industries, the turnover rates and costs are frequently very high. Excessive turnover often engenders far reaching consequences and, at the extreme, may lead to jeopardy of the organization’s objectives. There may be a brain drain that negatively affects innovation and causes major delays in the delivery of services and the introduction of new programs. The smartest and most talented employees are the most mobile and the ones who are disproportionately more likely to leave. Employee turnover is both pervasive and costly. It cuts across every type and size of organization from low tech to high tech and from finance to sales. While the rate of turnover may vary between companies, sectors, and industries, and by division, function, tenure, gender, race, and performance level within the same organization, there are enormous adjustment costs any time an employee walks out the door. The cost of replacing a worker is often underestimated, because in addition to visible costs like those noted above, there are many “hidden” costs and consequences of turnover. They include disruption of customer relations, the vacancy cost until the job is filled, costs resulting from disruption of the work flow, and the erosion of morale and stability of those who remain. Further, there is the temporary loss of production and valuable time taken from customer relations while the new hire acquires job skills and achieves maximum efficiency.
Research Problems
This research will investigate the causes of employee turnover in an automotive company in Klang Valley. This research aims to answer the following research questions:
1. Does job dissatisfaction lead to turnover intention?
2. Does poor leadership lead to employee turnover?
3. Does work environment lead to employee turnover?
4. Do manufacturing processes affect turnover intention?
Research Objectives
The aim of the research is to determine the factors that elicits the intention to leave in employees that will eventually lead to turnover. By focusing on an automotive company in Klang Valley, the researcher aims to test existing theories of employee turnover on actual work setting. The specific goals of the research are:
1. To determine whether job dissatisfaction leads to employee turnover.
2. To ascertain whether poor leadership leads to employee turnover.
3. To identify the role of work environment on employee turnover.
4. To determine whether manufacturing processes affect turnover intention.
Methodology
The researcher will employ both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data gathering. The researcher will make use of a survey and a focus group. A survey gathers data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions can be compared, or determining the relationship that exist between specific events. Survey research according to Hutchinson (2004) can be defined most simply as a means of gathering information, usually through self-report using questionnaires or interviews (p. 285). The attraction of a survey lie in its appeal to generazability or universality within given parameters, its ability to make statements which are supported by large data banks and its ability to establish the degree of confidence which can be placed in a set of findings (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 171). The popularity of survey research is due in large to its utility on countless research situations. Surveys are used for such diverse purposes as needs assessment, program evaluation, attitude measurement, political opinion polling, and policy analysis, as well as for simple descriptions of behaviors, activities, and population characteristics. The scope of surveys can range from large-scale national surveys to smaller surveys confined to a single neighborhood, classroom, or organization. Another strength is its applicability on situations where direct manipulations of variables is either unfeasible to unethical (Hutchinson, 2004, p. 286). Surveys are best suited for descriptive research. Companies undertake surveys to learn about people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and satisfaction, and to measure these magnitudes in the general population (Kotler 2000). An antique shop can use surveys to measure employee attitudes about antiques and what particular pieces are popular among consumers. Aside from face-to-face surveys, on-line interviewing can also be used.
A focus group is a gathering of six to ten people who are invited to spend a few hours with a skilled moderator to discuss a product, service, organization, or other marketing entity. The moderators needs to be objective knowledgeable on the issue, and skilled in group dynamics. Focus groups can be used to fulfill different objectives (Kotler 2000). Focus groups can be used as a tool for gaining information from the consumers, more specifically; focus groups are used to discuss:
New product concepts, or proposed product changes
Changes in customer tastes and requirements
Individual marketing mix issues
Advertising concepts
Branding issues (Baines and Chansarkar 2002)
The researcher will also conduct a secondary research on the topic. The most frequent application of secondary data in marketing research is to gain familiarity and to establish a context in which primary data are collected, analyzed, and reported, the problem is defined, and the research is designed. This application is a ‘literature search’ – an examination of existing material, searching for information pertinent to the current marketing research project. Materials are typically scholarly journals, magazines, books, newspapers, and company records. Secondary data can provide information about techniques and procedures for conducting marketing research (Patzer 1995).The secondary data can be used to provide guidance to the marketing research. Various data can be collected from different resources such as books and journals and publications from different organizations.
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