This chapter contains seven parts, including the research framework, research methods, research subjects, research instruments, data collection and data analysis, research procedures and validity and reliability.
Research Framework
The research framework (Figure 3.1) was developed in accordance with the research purposes and literature review. First, factors affecting choosing careers of management associates were explored. Second, based on literature review, MA programs included job rotation, specific skills training, special assignment, and mentoring/ coaching. The researcher found out how their skill, abilities, and knowledge were developed through training activities.
In addition, the impact of MA programs on career development of MAs was investigated.
Finally, since MA got better treatment, they encountered many challenges. The researcher conceptualized difficulties they met and their adopted strategies.
Figure 3.1. Research framework
Career Choice Management
associates in Taiwan Banking
Sectors
Career Development MA programs
Difficulties and strategies Factors
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Research Methods
This study employed a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of perspectives of management associates. Interview was used in this study because the researcher was interested in past events. There were three types of interview in qualitative approach, including unstructured interview, semi-structured interview, and structured interview (Merriam, 2009). A semi-structured interview was designed to obtain subjects responses to the topic. The semi-structured interview was used because it was flexible and new questions were brought up during the interview based on the interviewee response (Domonichi, 2010). As a result, it was considered the best approach for giving management associates the opportunity to share their personal experience. Interviews were held in face-to-face individually.
The researcher sent the interview invitation, interview outline and interview questions to participants first to make interviewees have a basic understanding of the research. In interview invitation, the researcher explained the purpose of the study and expressed grateful to all participants. The interview outline depicted the motivation of the research, criteria of interviewees and definition of career development. The last part was interview questions, consisting of basic information of interviewees and 10 interview questions checked by two experts were closely related to three research questions. During the interview, the research instruments included pens, recorder, and papers for note-taking. After interviews, the researcher transformed the record into transcripts and then analyzed.
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Research Subjects
In the study, the subjects were management associates in banking sectors in Taiwan. A semi-structured interview was conducted for 12 management associates from international, domestic and government banks. Most of MA programs in Taiwan were a two-year training programs. As a result, the criteria of participants were having at least two years experiences for being management associates. Since only having experienced all training activities, they could share what they learned and how these training influenced their future development.
Patton (2002) proposed many sampling strategies included in purposeful sampling, such as typical sampling, stratified purposeful sampling, etc. Under the circumstance that management associates were so busy that they had less time to have interview with the researcher, the choices were limited. As a result, the researcher used criterion sampling and snow-ball sampling to choose 12 subjects.
Introduction of Participants
Based on the literature review, there were 16 banks in Taiwan implementing MA programs. All participants were from those banks. Backgrounds of interviewees were summarized in Table 3.1. All of them had master degree and most of them were fresh graduates. One of 12 participants (A1) resigned after finishing training programs, on the contrary, other interviewees still retained in their organizations. Except for subject A1, every participant finished trainings and promoted to first-line managers.
32 Subject A1
Subject A1 majored in technology management in graduate school. He joined MA programs of company A in 2009. After finishing training program, subject A1 decided to be turnover due to personality and his mentor. After resigning, he also worked in financial industry because of interest.
Subject A2
Subject A2 had an MBA and law degree. He had an internship in NPO before. Besides, he was an amateur magician. Like A1, he took part in MA programs in 2009. The most difficult problem for him was heavy workload. He communicated with his supervisors Table 3.1.
Summary of Interviewees
Subject Age Seniority Education Major Position
A1 28 2 Master Technology
Management
Assistant Manager
A2 31 2.8 Master Law
MBA
Assistant Manager
B1 30 2.5 Master Business Team Leader
C1 28 2 Master Public Finance Personal Financial Consultant
C2 30 3.8 Master Finance Assistant Vice President
D1 30 3.5 Master Finance Third Assistant Manager
D2 33 3.7 Master MBA Third Assistant Manager
E1 33 5 Master Business Assistant Manager
F1 31 4 Master Finance Manager
G1 27 2.10 Master Accounting Assistant Manager
G2 33 3 Master MBA Assistant Manager
H1 30 3 Master Economics Senior Assistant Manager
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actively to cope with this situation. He was an assistant manager in company A and prepared for a promotion examination now.
Subject B1
When subject B1 graduated from graduate school, there was a great economic depression all over the world. He chose to be an MA because of having more training and quick career advancement. He received one-year training, including rotation, skill training and additional assignments. Now, he was a team leader in organizations.
Subject C1
Since subject C1 worked in an international bank, he couldn’t adapt to the work environment in the beginning. Since he was a little shy, he had trouble in adapting to a new environment and interacting with customers. In addition, because the program he participated was the newest, it was not well-designed. The irregular job transfers made him feel confused.
In spite of meeting several difficulties, he still stayed in this company because of interests. He worked as personal financial consultant now.
Subject C2
Subject C2 was a management associate of HR in company C. Her motivations to take part in MA programs were related to interest, education background and intern experience.
She was satisfied with her job due to having a sense of achievement. Although she had heavy work load and long working hours, she overcame these challenges for being optimistic. Now, she worked as assistant vice president in company C.
34 Subject D1
Subject D1 took part in 2008 MA program. It was the first year for company D to implement MA program. As a result, subject D1 didn’t have regular rotation. When she did cross-functional projects, she encountered many interpersonal problems. Having good attitude was the action she took to overcome difficulties. Now, she was third assistant manager in company D.
Subject D2
Before entering company D, subject D2 had worked in several industries for about 5 years. Like subject D1, he also joined the 2008 MA program. After finishing training programs, he chose to work in human resource department because of interest. Now, he was third assistant manager in company D.
Subject E1
Subject E1 was an MA in a government bank, providing him a more stable work environment. After finishing programs, he had been expatriated to Hong Kong until now. He was glad to work in Hong Kong because it benefited his career. In addition, company E provided enough compensation with him. Now, he worked as an assistant manager in the Hong Kong branch of company E.
Subject F1
Subject F1, majored in finance, had worked in company F for about four years. In the first six months, his work and life were unbalance because of high self-expectation. Peers and family gave him big supports when he encountered difficulties. Now, his position in his company F was manager.
35 Subject G1
Subject G1 majored in accounting. She had an internship in accounting service before.
The experience caused her not to work in the accounting service. Because of taking part in MA programs, she had more exposure to top management but it also caused her feel stressful and had longer working hours. Asking for a favor was her coping strategies with obstacles.
Now, she was assistant manager.
Subject G2
Subject G2 studied abroad for MBA. After graduating, he had worked in technology industry for about 4 years. And then he transferred to financial industry due to having no interest in technology industry. Now, he worked as assistant manager in company G.
Subject H1
Subject H1 majored in economics in graduate school. His total seniorities were 3 years.
Now, he worked as a senior assistant manager in the corporate banking division, which the core business of company H. Working in the most important division was his major reason to retaining.
Introduction of Company
Company A
Company A, a domestic bank, now has 124 domestic and three overseas branches. Its business includes corporate and consumer banking, wealth management, credit card, financing, trust, and public treasury, enabling the bank to offer one stop shopping financial services.
36 Company B
Company B is one of domestic banks in Taiwan. It has over one hundred domestic branches and over ten overseas offices. Its products and services consist of deposits, loans and guarantees, international banking, trust and stock brokerage, overseas Chinese services, and credit cards.
Company C
Company C is an international bank, which has 1,700 offices in 70 markets. Its business covers personal banking, preferred banking, priority banking and SEM banking.
Company D
Company D categorized into domestic bank has55 branches in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Its core business comprises wealth management, insurance agency, small- and medium-sized enterprise banking unit, consumer banking, credit card, corporate banking, and financial markets.
Company E
Having over 300 domestic and overseas branches, company E is a governmental bank.
This bank is charged with corporate banking, personal banking, loan assets, wealth management, international banking, credit cards, treasury, risk management, electronic banking, and account.
Company F
Company F, establishing about 150 offices in Taiwan and 66 branches abroad, is type of domestic bank. Services provided by company F cover savings accounts, loans, guarantees,
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foreign exchange, offshore banking units, trusts, credit cards, cash cards, securities, debentures, proprietary dealing in futures, derivatives, factoring, safety deposit boxes, and e-banking and the Bank also serves as an agent for the lottery
Company G
The branches in Taiwan and overseas of company G are about 125. Company G is one of domestic banks in Taiwan. Their major business includes international bank, wealth management, personal banking, corporate banking, and credit cards.
Company H
Like company E, company H is categorized into the government bank. It has about 200 branches and offices all over the world. The services and products company E provided consist of corporate banking, international banking, credit cards, trust, personal banking, trading, and treasury.
Data Collection and Analysis
Research data was mainly obtained from personal information and concept shared by the interviewees. Interviews were conducted from March, 2012 to May, 2012. At first, the researcher confirmed willingness of participants. After that, the researcher sent the interview outline to interviewees. In addition, the researcher told them this research was anonymous and interviews were conducted individually and took approximately 45to 60 minutes for each subjects.
Researcher used content analysis to analyze the interview feedback. After interviews, transcripts were generated. A code book and coding form were created based on the research questions and literature review. The first step of coding (figure 3.2.) was to extract the
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meaningful information from the transcript and then transform them into concept. Each concept had a coding number, which indicated company sequence, interviewee sequence, page number, and concept sequence.
Figure 3.2. The first step of coding
The second step of coding (figure 3.3) was to create a framework which was based on literature review and research questions. The concepts were categorized to different topics.
Topics Categories Concept Coding
Figure 3.3. The second step of the coding Transcript
Question and Answer Concept
Q: What was you motivation to join MA programs?
The major motivation for joining MA programs was having interests in financial industry. As a result, when I applied for job, I checked job vacancies in banks first.
C1-1-1
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Research Procedure
The following figure explained the process of this research. Based on the literature review, researcher decided the research topic. Literature review made the researcher have concrete concept about the study and provided many main theories. As a result, the researcher proposed three research questions. Researcher formulated a research framework based on literature review and three research questions. Before conducting interview, the interview questions were generated and reviewed by two experts. After revising interview questions, researcher began to select interviewees and conduct interviews. After interview, the transcripts were developed and researcher extracted meaningful information. There were two researchers review the coding to achieve reliability. Finally, researcher produced findings and conclusions for the study.
Figure 3.4. Research procedure Deceide Research Topic
Formulate Research Questions Formulate Research
Framework Develop Interview
Questions Select Subjects
Interview
Analyze Interview Data Generate Findings and
Conclusions
Experts Review
Peers Review
Literature Review
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Validity and Reliability
The discussion of validity and reliability in qualitative researches differ from those in quantitative researches. Linclon and Guba (1989) proposed four criteria to examine validity and reliability of qualitative research, including credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability.
Credibility
Credibility refers to internal validity, which means whether information the researcher obtained is truth or not. According to Mertens (2005), there are several strategies to achieve credibility, such as peer debriefing, member checks, triangulation, etc. Before interviews, the interview questions were checked by two experts and the researcher made revision following their suggestions. During interviews, the open-structured interview questions were used to allow participants reply freely and the researcher tried to understand interviewees’ point of views during interviews. After interviews and transcripts being developed, the researcher invited two peers to do peer debriefing, which can enhance credibility.
In addition, triangulation was employed in the study. According to Arksey and Knight (1999), there were four types of triangulation: methodological triangulation, data triangulation, investigator triangulation, and theoretical triangulation. Data triangulation was used in data collection. The researcher collected data not only from interview but also from organizational official website and information from magazines and newspaper.
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Transferability
Transferability refers to external validity, which means whether the findings can be applied to other scenario (Mertens, 2005). To achieve external validity, the researcher recorded the time, place and the context carefully.
Dependability
Dependability also called reliability (Lincoln and Guba, 1989). Reliability can be achieved by many ways. First, the researcher used the same procedure to conduct interviews and analyzed data. Second, all interviewees were chosen carefully. Third, the researcher was familiar with the interview skills by reading books.
Conformability
Lincoln and Guba (1989) said the meaning of conformability was the same as objectivity. To avoid subjective bias, the researcher reflected carefully on interview content.
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