STAFF TURNOVER IN NATIONAL DATABASE AND REGISTERATION

AUTHORITY, PAKISTAN

Masters of Business Administration

Dissertation

Atif Rahim Randhwa

ID: 07045111

Table of Contents

Chaptor 1
Introduction..................................................................................................................3
Chaptor 2
Review of Litrature......................................................................................................3
Chaptor 3
Research Methodolgy.................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................10
Appendix A.................................................................................................................11
Appendix B.................................................................................................................11
Appendix C.................................................................................................................11

Chapter 1 : Introduction
1.1

Introduction

This is a dissertation for the completion of MBA studies at the London metropolitan
University. The researcher has been an employee of National Database and
Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan before coming to UK for postgraduate
studies. It was observed that most the employees were considering quitting and
adopting other professions and the management was not paying any attention to this
issue. Probably they did not have the understanding of the issue or an absence of
any comprehensive research to investigate the issue could have been a hindrance
towards the solution of the problem.

There

exists

perception

that

the

organisations

(especially

government

organisations) in Pakistan are not inclined towards the improvement of their systems
through research. The aim of this research is to study the problem of staff turnover in
a public organisation in a developing country i.e. National Database and Registration
Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan. It is felt that most of the literature written for
management is based on the research conducted in the organisations in the western
part of the world. This research intends to address the abovementioned issue on the
basis of the literature available and the analysis of the data collected in the light of
this literature. The history and organisational background of NADRA is given below.

1.2

History of NADRA

The Ministry of Interior of Pakistan established the National Database Organization

(NDO) was in order to handle the data collected during the Population Census in
1998 (www.nadra.gov.pk). The intention was the creation of a comprehensive
3

Citizens' Database for future planning, documentation of the economy for a cohesive
and unified approach in both registration and social field. The NDO was merged with
the Directorate General of Registration (DGR) on 10 th March, 2000 to form NADRA,
which is a self-regulating corporate entity with basic independence.

1.3

Organisational Context

The idea behind the formation NADRA was the issuance of state-of-the-art National
Identity Cards (NICs) to all eligible citizens of Pakistan so as to replace the old paper
infested system of national registration with a new, improved, and modernized
system for the citizens of country as well as to undertake the collection of
demographic and geographic data.

The

organisation

employs

more

than

seven

thousand

IT

professionals,

(www.nadra.gov.pk) of its 11,100 employees. It has more than 326 static and 103
mobile offices staffed by 17 to 36 people, across eight regions through out the
country (Oracle Case Study, 2006). In addition, it owns the largest information and
communications technology resources in Pakistan as well as the most modern
communication systems owned by any single Pakistani organization. According to
Chairman NADRA, Mr Saleem Ahmed Moeen, 67% costs of the organisation are
attributed to the HRM.

1.4

Rationale for the Topic

Being an employee of NADRA, the researcher observed that despite all the claims
and modern infrastructure, the turnover of the professional staff was very high. Even
those employees who have not quitted their job were considering alternatives.

NADRA is considered as one of few most organised and technology infested

organisations in Pakistan as explained above. It claims to be one of the largest job
providers to professionals (www.nadra.gov.pk). The company pledges that these
professionals have been put on a promising career path, leading to various
management positions. The problem of high turnover might be the biggest
impediment in the fulfilment of this promise therefore this research is an endeavour to
provide recommendations towards the short term as well as the long term solution of
the problem.

As the researcher would be returning to NADRA after the completion of the studies,
therefore, this topic is deemed appropriate for research as it may provide appropriate
answers to one of the major problems faced by the organisation.

1.5

Scope of the Research

NADRA has more than 11000 employees (www.nadra.gov.pk) from different

ethnicities and regions of the country and with the future expansion plan the number
is expected to grow. They are mostly from technical disciplines. In times of disasters
like the 2008 earthquake and most recent displacement of more than one million
displaced people due to military operation in the north of the country, NADRA has
played a vital role in identifying the families needing help. In future, the organisation
is faced with more such challenges and in such environment a more satisfied and
committed workforce is essential. The objective of this dissertation is, on the one
hand, to identify the reasons for a high turnover of NADRAs employees as well as to
provide recommendations for remedial measures to be taken.

1.6

Research Questions

This research intends to answer the following questions:(a)

What is the prevalence of staff turnover in NADRA?

(b)

What are the factors leading to professional staff turnover?

(c)

How to retain professional staff in NADRA?

(d)

What is the role of leadership in avoiding turnover?

(e)

What are the steps/change in prevailing policies which can reduce the
turnover?

1.7

Structure of dissertation

This section covers the roadmap of this research. After the introductory Chapter 1, the
review of the literature explaining different concepts and approaches relevant to this
research is presented in Chapter 2. The methodology based on which this research is
undertaken is explained in Chapter 3, which would lead to the research findings in
Chapter 4. The research analyses based on these findings are presented in Chapter
5. Finally, Chapter 6 offers the conclusion, recommendations, limitations to this
research and the areas of further studies.

Chapter 2

Literature Review

Introduction
This chapter presents a review of appropriate literature which serves as the
foundation for the development of this research. Different concepts and approaches
are discussed in order to gain an understanding of the dynamics of the issue of staff
turnover in the context of this research. The effort is find the links between different
organisational factors such as employee turnover, motivation, job satisfaction etc.

Employee Turnover
This term is often utilized in efforts to measure relationships of employees in an
organisation as they leave regardless of reason. Price (1977) defined turnover as
The ration of the number of organisational member who have left during the
period being considered divided by the average number of people in that
organisation during the period (Price 1977, p. 15).
According to woods (1996),
Each time a position is vacated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, a new
employee must be hired and trained. This replacement cycle is known as
turnover (Woods, 1996. P. 345).
Shaw et al. (1998) termed employee turnover as a much studied phenomenon but
according to Lee and Mitchell (1994) the specific account of the reasons for
employees to choose to quit their organisations. The employee turnover process
cannot be understood by any standard framework as argued by Morell et al. (2004) but
it can be interpreted by factors like commitment (Meyer, 2001); labour market variables

(Kirschenbaum and Mano-Negrin, 1999); job satisfaction (Hom and Kinicki, 2001);
equity (Aquino et al., 1997); psychological contract (Morrison and Robinson, 1997) etc.

Avoidable Turnover
The measure of the degree to which decisions to quit are perceived as avoidable
by employees leaving the organisation is one way of establishing the amount of
control organisations have over turnover (Campion, 1991; Morrell et al., 2001).
According to Miller et al. (1997) this view of the employees may be erroneous for a
number of reasons and Maertz and Campion, (2001) consider this avoidability as
more multifarious than a simple dichotomy between turnover that could be avoided
or not. What may have been seen as unfair by other employees could be perceived
as cost ineffective or having other negative implications from the organisational point
of view. Job characteristics, employee relations, and work environment (e.g.
organizational tasks and reward systems) are key reasons which influence turnover
behaviors of employees (Szilagyi, 1979). These factors can be divided into two
types:-

(a) Controllable factors: the factors in this category are work environment, job
satisfaction pay, nature of work, supervision, organizational commitment (OC),
distributive justice, and procedure justice. and leadership style (Khatri et al.
2001)

(b) Uncontrollable Factors are organizational structure, external opportunities,

and shortage of labor force.

Turnover intention
Intent to turnover represents the ultimate cognitive step in the decision making
process in which an employee actively considers quitting and searching for
alternative employment (Tett and Meyer, 1993). A workers intentions to leave an
organization include mere thoughts of quitting the organization (thinking of quitting),
and statements by the worker that he/she actually wants to leave the organization
(intent to leave). The actual behavior of the employee may be different from the
intention. However, behavioral intention to quit has been found to be a strong
predictor of personnel turnover across industries and theoretically is believed to be
an important antecedent to turnover (Gregory et al., 2007).

Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is an important variable, along with infrastructures and internal
relationships, which affects the quality of service rendered by the employees in an
organisation and it also helps in establishing its health as argued by Yousef (2000).
According to Locke (1976) job satisfaction is the pleasure an employee draw from
the job which effects ones emotional state positively whereas, Robbins and Judge
(2007) termed it as the positive feeling about ones job resulting from an evaluation
of its characteristics. Blum and Naylor, (1986) defined job satisfaction as general
attitude of the workers constituted by their approach towards the wages, working
conditions, control, promotion related with the job, social relations in the work,
recognition of talent and some similar variables, personal characteristics, and group
relations apart from the work life It represents an attitude rather than behaviour as
suggested by Greenberg and Baron (2008). Spector (1997) pointed out that job

satisfaction and job performance are related to each other but Euske et al. (1980)
argued that it is not necessary that high job satisfaction leads to high performance.

Job Satisfaction and Staff Turnover

The correlation between job satisfaction and turnover is one of the most
comprehensively examined issues in the turnover literature. Many studies report a
steady and inverse relationship between job satisfaction and turnover, as dissatisfied
employees are more likely to leave an organization than satisfied ones (Cotton and
Tuttle, 1986; Arnold and Feldman, 1982). Mobley (1982) put forth that

The fact that the relationship (between job satisfaction and turnover) is not
stronger does not suggest that satisfaction should not be measured. It does
suggest that measures of satisfaction must be combined with other measures
to effectively predict and understand turnover (Mobley, 1982:45).
Koh and Goh (1995) argued that the use of overall satisfaction do not depict the
fundamental impact of different job features on turnover.

Factors Effecting Job Satisfaction

Maslow (1954) argued that the level of job satisfaction will depend on the level of
fulfilment of physiological, security, self-esteem and self-actualisation needs of the
individual. According to Herzberg et al., (1959) the job satisfaction and the motivation
of an employee are affected by two types of factors i.e. hygiene factors and
motivational factors. The former also termed as the extrinsic factors and the later as
the factors intrinsic to the job respectively. The intrinsic factors relate to the work
itself and represent sources of satisfaction at work, like physiology, safety,
belongingness, achievement, autonomy, self-understanding and creativity, which

10

affect the personal development of an employee in a job, motivate an individual and

are a cause of job satisfaction for them. On the contrary, the extrinsic or protective
factors in a job which relate to the work environment like supervision, company
policy and administration, working conditions, interpersonal relations with peers,
superiors, and subordinates, status, job security, salary, and personal life frustrate
them. Plate and Stone(1974) suggested that the work or the job itself and the
success and acknowledgment at work lead to job satisfaction whereas the policies of
the management and the interpersonal relations with the supervisors and workmates
lead to dissatisfaction. Quarstein et al., 1992) believe that the interaction of
individuals, job and organisational variables results in job satisfaction (Hoy and
Miskel 1996).

Theories of Motivation
Before discussing any other aspect it is deemed appropriate to discuss different
theories of motivation. To answer the question that what motivates an individual there
are a number of theories explaining the nature of motivation according to Mullins
(2007) and the managers can make effective strategies if they have a better
understanding of these theories as suggested by Tietjen and Myers (1998). All of these
theories have been criticized for their short comings and questions may be raised
about the relevance of these theories as they date back many years according to Ries
and Pena (2001) but according to Flores and Utley (2000) the main principles of these
theories provide an invaluable understanding of the main principles on which the
motivation depends.

Content Theories

11

These theories tries to explain what actually motivates an individual at work, therefore,
their emphasis is on the identification of the needs of the people and the strengths
they have and their objectives for the satisfaction of these needs as suggested by
Mullins (2007).

Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Theory

According to Stum (2001) this theory is one of the earliest and the best known theory
of individual motivation. Maslow hypothesized human beings as want beings and
arranged the human needs in a hierarchy of importance. These needs are described
below:-

(a)

Physiological Needs. The needs for survival e.g. food, water or shelter
etc

(b)

Safety Needs - Creation of an environment to be protected from the

external dangers.

(c)

Social Needs. Need to be liked and accepted by others

(d)

Self Esteem Needs. Need to gain respect and approval

(e)

Self-actualization Needs. To develop to ones fullest potential

According to Wahba and Bridwell (1976) there is an argument that this theory presents
limited support on the subject as it presents only five needs which are activated in a
specific order but Saunders (2003) termed Maslow theory as being Water Tight
despite the elapse of a considerable time since it was first presented.

Herzbergs Two Factor Theory

12

According to Jones and Lloyds (2005) Herzberg presented a complex interaction

between internal and external factors with an effort to determine the response of an
individual to different types of internal and external stimuli. Herzberg argued that the
motivation of an individual are affected by two types of factors i.e. hygiene factors and
motivational factors. The former also termed as the extrinsic factors and the latter as
the factors intrinsic to the job respectively. The intrinsic factors relate to the work itself
and represent sources of satisfaction at work, like physiology, safety, belongingness,
achievement, autonomy, self-understanding and creativity, which affect the personal
development and motivation of an individual at work. On the contrary, the extrinsic or
protective factors relate to the work environment like supervision, company policy and
administration, working conditions, interpersonal relations with peers, superiors, and
subordinates, status, job security, salary, and personal life. The absence or
inappropriateness of the extrinsic factors has an adverse effect on the motivation of an
individual as argued by Robbins and Judge (2007).

McClellands Theory of Needs

According to Osland et al (2001) the theory presented by Mclleland focused on the
needs of power, achievement and affiliation and identified the following four main
motives which are arousal, based and socially developed Mullins (2007).

(a)

The achievement motive

(b)

The power motive

(c)

The affiliative motive

(d)

The avoidance motive

13

According to this theory the extent of achievement motivation varies between

individuals. This research was as effort to understand the characteristics of high
achievers and there is a rough correspondence between the Maslows needs of self
actualisation, esteem and social needs and the first three motives of McClellands
theory.

The Process Theories

Process theories explain how behaviour is initiated, directed, sustained, and stopped
and their relationship with the dynamic variables that make up motivation according to
Segal et al. (2005). In short, these theories have an emphasis on the cognitive
processes in determining an individuals level of motivation.

Vrooms Expectancy Theory

The Vrooms expectancy theory examines motivation from the perspective of why
people choose a particular action or behaviour. It consists of three components as
suggested by Lee (2007). These components are Valance, Expectency and
Instrumentality. Valance is affective orientations toward particular outcomes,
expectancy can be defined as a momentary belief followed by a particular outcome
and Instrumentality is the persons perception of the probability that performance will
lead to a specific outcome. According to this theory when an individual opts for
alternative behaviours which may result in unsure outcomes, the preference of a
particular outcome as well as the probability of the achievement of that outcome
affects this choice as argued by Mullins (2007).

Equity Theory of Motivation

14

Equity theory, which is usually associated with the work of Adams, focuses on
individuals feelings of how fairly they have been treated in comparison with the
treatment received by others. People weigh their inputs (efforts) in comparison with the
outputs (rewards) and if there is equilibrium they are satisfied and motivated. The
unequal comparison of the ratios results in the sense of inequity in an individual thus
having a de-motivating effect. Individuals might compare themselves with their friends,
relatives, neighbours and co-workers and can also make a comparison between their
present employment and previous job. According to Simons and Roberson (2003)
equity is linked with the distributive justice which is one of the forms of organisational
justice. Employees perceive their organisation as just when they believe that the
outcome they are receiving is fair.

Goal Theory
This framework is based on the work by Locke. The basic premise of this theory is that
peoples goals or intentions play an important role in determining their behaviour or the
high performance is the result of goal setting as argued by Wiley (1997). In other
words people achieve emotional satisfaction and fulfil their desires by striving for
achievement of their goals. The task related motivation of the employees is
determined by their intentions (goal) because their thoughts and actions are directed
by their goals. Acceptance of the goal assignment and provisions for performance
feedbacks are two critical preconditions of positive goal performance relationship.
(Locke et al, 1986). The research conducted by Nicholson (1995) suggested that the
effectiveness of goal setting methods is primarily determined by task demands, selfefficacy, goal commitment, and task orientation.

15

Fairness in Performance Appraisal

Fairness in the performance appraisal system is the most important issue for an
organisation as argued by Bertz et al (1992) because the system is perceived as
neither fair nor accurate by most of the employees. Whereas, according to Latham
and Wexley (1981) most of the employees perceive this system to be inaccurate and
unfair and this is a major problem for the organisational leaders. One common
premise of the recent research is that mind-sets of the system's users toward the
process determine to a great level the eventual success of a performance appraisal
system according to Roberts (1995). Moreover, the active involvement of each level
of management makes the system more embedded in the organisation as a vital
function as underlined by Humphreys (2005). The fairness of the performance
appraisal system and its results are required to be scrutinized because an appraisal
system has to be viewed as fair and just by appraisees to be successful as argued
by Greenberg (1986a).

There is evidence in the research showing the linkage between effectiveness and
approaches of a performance appraisal and employee satisfaction and perceptions
of the process. Cardy and Dobbins (1994, p.54) argued that with feelings of
unfairness in process and inequity in evaluations, any appraisal system will be
doomed to failure. Employees disapprove appraisal systems which are subjective
and evaluate employees on standards not relating to their work quality and not
protecting their rights thus not reflecting their actual performance. Employees are
more likely to accept and use appraisal systems that they perceive to be fair as
underlined by and Stiggins and Bridgeford (1985). If the employees perceive a

16

system to be biased, political or irrelevant it can be a big source of their

dissatisfaction as suggested by Skarlicki and Folger (1997).

Distributive Justice and Procedural Justice

Pinder and Latham (2005) argue that this perception of fairness was derived from
"equity" and as it entails the allotment or sharing of resources thus is known as
distributive justice. Cropanzano et al, (1997) indicated that the later research
concluded that if the process of distribution decision is perceived to be fair by the
people than they will accept a certain amount of unfairness in distribution and the
procedural justice describes the phenomena as argued by Greenberg (1993). The
referent cognition theory by Cropanzano and Folger (1989) endeavoured to
incorporate distributive and procedural types of justice by describing the part of
decision-making procedures in influencing the view of unfair treatment. They
suggested that the reaction of people will be positive to an unfair outcome if they
perceive the procedures used to determine the outcomes to be fair similarly their
reaction will be negative if they perceive the procedures as being unfair. Bews and
Uys (2002) argue that the positive equity may be the result of the perceptions of
unfairness as there can be a feeling of guilt when an employee perceives that
another had a greater claim to a particular allocation. The outcome may be
favourable this way but it may not assist the perception of fairness as it questions the
reliability of the process. Alternatively, when people perceive that they had a greater
claim to an outcome compared to a person receiving it, this perception of unfairness
may result in negative inequity.

17

Organisational Commitment
Mowday et al (1979 defined Organisational as
The strength of an individuals identification with and involvement in an
organisation (Mowday et al., 1979).
The are three components of this concept:

(a) An aspiration to retain partisanship in the organisation

(b) A faith in and recognition of the values and goals of the organisation,
(c) An eagerness to endeavour on behalf of the organisation.

An individual identifies himself with the organisation if there is a feeling of

commitment to an organisation in that individual. The individual agrees with its
objectives and value systems as a result and is likely to remain in it, and, finally, is
prepared to work hard.

There are following different forms of commitment according to Allen and Meyer,
(1990):

(a)

Affective commitment is the employees emotional attachment to the

organisation

(b)

Continuance commitment is the perception of an employee of the

costs and risks associated with leaving the present organisation. The
personal sacrifice that leaving would entail and a shortage of alternatives

18

available to the employee are the two aspects to continuance

commitment
(c)

Normative commitment is the moral aspect, based on a employees

believed obligation and responsibility to the organisation.

Porter et als (1974) have also highlighted that organizational commitment is one of
the most important factors in explaining turnover.

Research Hypothesis
In view of the above arguments, the following is hypothesized:
H1

Job satisfaction is negatively associated with turnover intention.

H2

Organizational commitment is negatively associated with turnover

intention.

H3

Distributive justice is negatively associated with turnover intention.

19

Chapter 3

Research Methodology

Introduction
A research methodology on one hand presents the philosophical frame work within
which the research project develops and on the other hand describes and analyses
the methods used to gather and interpret data Lather (1992). This chapter will
discuss the methodology which will be followed for the completion of the dissertation.
After describing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and method, the
approach selected for this research would be identified based on its appropriateness
to the intentions of the researcher. The data collection method as well as the
techniques to analyse it would also be discussed in this chapter. At the end the
ethical considerations and the role of the researcher would also be discussed in this
chapter.

Research Philosophy
The research philosophy is important to discuss while discussing the methodology as
the validity and reliability of a research depends on it. According to Bryman (2001)
the beliefs about what is regarded as acceptable knowledge in a discipline affect how
a research will be carried out and the findings interpreted. Many factors like choosing
an appropriate research methodology, the topic to be researched and the primary
questions, are to be considered Remenyi et al, 1998).

Epistemology vs Ontology
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief according to Code (2000)
and the reality which is studied investigated by the researcher is ontology as

20

described by Healy and Perry (2000). These two stances give different perspectives
to the research and the methodologies of modern research. There are two paradigms
of philosophies indicted by Hussey and Hussey i.e. Positivism and Phenomenology
which are described below.

Phenomenology vs Positivism
According to Saunders et al (2003) working with an observable social reality is
positivism. It is a highly structured approach which is replicable therefore the results
are absolute like a law as argued by Remenyi et al (1998). It is for this reason that it
involves experimentation and comparison after establishing hypothesis to the answer
the questions about the problems.

On the other hand phenomenology is concerned with the understanding of the human
behaviour from the perspective of the participants of the research. the basic
assumption of this approach is that the reality is with an individual as explained by
Hussey and Hussey (1997). The main benefit of this methodology, as acknowledged
by Buttery and Buttery (1990) is that it classifies, that the onus for making decisions in
the organisations lies with people and to distinguish the difficult state they require
information in.

Inductive vs Deductive
According to Fisher et al (2004) when the conclusion is drawn from past experiences
or experimentation and effective reasoning from observed facts to broader principles.
It aims at developing the theory rather than testing it. The key points in regards to the
use of an inductive approach are that observation is required to identify the

21

phenomena that one is researching with the aim of moving from observation through
to theory as identified by Saunders et al (2003). This is because as the researcher is
utilising a qualitative approach in that they are attempting to define the research
through specific events rather than generalising.

The deductive approach starts with an established theory or generalisation and tests
that theory in order to verify the application of theory to specific instances according to
Hyde (2000). The deductive theory represents the commonest view of the nature of
the relationship between theory and research according to Bryman and Bell (2003).
There is a requirement to explain the casual relationships between the variables as
argued by Saunders et al (2003). During the collection of quantitative data there
should be controls in place to ensure the validity of that data. Due to the highly
structured approach when using the deductive method the researcher requires
remaining independent of what is being researched.

Research Methods
Research may be categorised into two distinct type i.e. qualitative and quantitative
according to the different schools of thought according to Amaratunga et al (2002).
The numerical (quantifiable) data analysis is generally associated with Quantitative
methods. The non-numerical data on the other hand is collected by Qualitative
methods. Harkland et al (2003) argues that quantitative data can be interpreted
qualitatively as there are open ended questions asked in surveys for data collection.
According to Freathy and OConnell, (1998) qualitative study such as interviews can
be reported as surveys. It is therefore the data analysis technique which decides that

22

decides whether an employed research method should be deemed quantitative or

qualitative.

Quantitative methods
Eldabi. et al (2002) argued that quantitative research has typically logical and linear
structure and emphasizes on methodology, procedures and statistical measures of
validity. It relies on statistical measurement and analysis of data to determine
relationship between one set of data to another. The measurement of such data
provides

with

quantifiable

conclusions.

Quantitative

research

designs

are

characterized by the assumption that human behaviour can be explained by what

may be termed as social facts which can be investigated by methodologies that
utilize the deductive logic of the natural sciences (Horna, 1994).

Questionnaire
Kervin (1999; cited in Saunders et al, 2002) explains significance of questionnaire in a
way that person records his/her own answers. The questionnaire is one of the most
widely used survey data collection technique. It is a technique in which people are
asked to answer a set of predetermined questions as suggested by Oppenheim
(2000). The questionnaire for this research is formulated as initiating from general to
specific approach to maintain objectivity in the research. Bell (1999; cited in Saunders,
2002) argues that it is far harder to produce good questionnaire than one might think.

The Questionnaire used for this research is attached as appendix 1. It measures the
responses on a 5 point Likert Scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
There are 29 questions in 5 parts as explained below:-

23

(a) Demographic Data.

There are 6 questions in this part and is meant to
collect the demographic data of the respondents.
(b) Job Satisfaction. This part consists of further 3 sub parts i.e. Satisfaction
with pay, satisfaction with nature of work and satisfaction with management.
Each subpart has 3 questions. Each of the sub part was adopted from the
studies of Weiss et al (1967) and Smith (1976) respectively.
(c) Organizational Commitment. This part comprises of 7 questions and was
adopted from the studies of Porter et al (1979)
(d) Distributive Justice.
This part consists of 4 questions and was adopted
from the research by Magner et al (1994).
(e) Turnover Intention.
The turnover intention was measured by using 3
questions adopted from the studies of Cummann et al (1979).
Qualitative Methods
Cassell (2006) explained that qualitative methods have a long history and tradition
within business & management research and have a well-established pedigree.
Qualitative methods have permeated all aspects of the management research field
ranging from the softer areas such as organizational analysis to more quantitative
areas. Saunders et al (2002) argue that the interactive nature of data collection and
analysis allows you to recognize important themes, patterns and relationships and as
a result researcher will be able to re-categorize existing data to see whether these
themes, patterns and relationships are present in the data where you have already
collected data.

Interview
Kvale (1996) defines qualitative research interview as an interview, whose purpose
is to gather descriptions of the real life-world of the interviewee with respect to
interpretation of the meaning of described phenomena. The aims of research

24

interviews are to see the perspective of the interviewees, understand how and the
reason why the interviewees have their particular perspective. Semi-structured
interviews will comprise of list of themes and questions to be covered and may vary
from interview to interview. That means that researcher may omit some particular
questions and change flow of the conversation (Saunders et al. 2000).

Method for this Research

A mixed approach i.e. both qualitative and quantitative methods was used for the
conduct of this research with questionnaires and semi structured interviews. This
approach was chosen for the following reasons:

The quantitative method allowed the researcher to compare the subgroups and

present the analysis in a statistical form.

Qualitative research offered the researcher with insights and understandings of

participants as well as the issue on the basis of naturally occurring and non biased
data, which the quantitative method is unable to present.

In other words, both these methods complemented each other by confirming the
results. The semi structured interviews proved to be the most suitable research
method as it provided flexibility to Interview questions were focused on gathering data
based on the issues elaborated in the literature review. In addition, according to
Saunders et al. (2002), the interviewer does have the opportunity to identify nonverbal clues which are present in the inflection of the voice, facial expressions or the
clothes that the interviewee is wearing and these can be used to develop secondary

25

questions. The secondary data was obtained from the NADRAs website; moreover,
the management was also requested for this purpose. In addition, various sources like
academic journals, textbooks, magazines, websites etc. were used for secondary data
collection.

The researcher approached the managing director and directors in different regional
offices of NADRA only a few individuals from the management agreed for an
interview as mentioned in the findings section of this research.

The researcher

distributed questionnaires to employees due to time constraints. Questionnaires was

based on Likert scale providing clear understanding for respondents. The researcher
also intended to interview some of the ex-employee of NADRA also but due to time
constraints and the security situation of the country it could not have been
materialised.

Sampling
According to Holton and Burnett (1997) the determination of a sample size is an
essential factor apart from dealing with non response bias in a quantitative survey
design. Sample size has a major contribution towards the detection of significant
differences, relationships or interaction in a research as argued by Peers (1996). The
sample size found appropriate for this research was (10%) of a total of 11000 i.e.
100 employees of NADRA for the collection of quantitative data.

Role of Researcher
Being an ex-employee of an organization, it is possible that my personal views may
affect research process consciously or unconsciously due to my certain knowledge
26

about organization and its activities. Therefore it was of utmost importance that I
must not be viewed as influence to any response throughout the research process
for its transparency and validity. To ensure this issue, I had tried to address all issues
in congruence with literature and set to maintain professional distinction among
research outcomes and personal conception. In order to enact this professional
approach, I forwarded standard information to all interviewees for maintaining its
consistency and to be specific regarding issue while interviews for keeping its
objectivity foremost.

Validity
The ability of a scale or measuring instrument to measure what is intended to be
measured as suggested by Zikmund (1999). Cooper and Schindler (2006) have
identified three major forms of validity in literature. These forms are:-

(a)
(b)
(c)

content validity
Criterion-related validity
Construct validity

The alphas for the different parts of the questionnaire used are satisfactory and the
sources are authentic thus emphasising its validity. The literature review is conducted
in the light of authentic sources on the subject.

27

Reliability
According to Kirk and Miller (1986) there are three types of reliability associated with
quantitative research

(a)
(b)
(c)

The level to which a measurement, given repetitively stays unchanged

The permanence of a dimension after a while
The resemblance of measurements within the specified period

As the findings of this research represent the individual understanding, views,

perceptions and beliefs of the employees of NADRA as well as the researcher it is
likely that the findings of this research may not be exactly repeatable. This is in
conjunction with the argument of Crocker and Algina (1986) that the scores obtained
by the answers of respondents to a set of questions represents a some degree of their
behaviours therefore there is a possibility that there may be change in the scores due
to some attribute of the respondent when the test is repeated, thus causing
inaccuracies in measurement. However, this does allow greater flexibility in exploring
complex issues and will certainly make an addition to the existing knowledge on the
subject as suggested by Saunders et. al (2002) and any common themes emerging
will tend to add weight to those particular findings.

3.11

Ethical Considerations

The researcher has carefully considered ethical issues involved in this research work
and feel a great responsibility towards people who were requested for help, access and
co-operation. The different ethical issues involved in this research and the actions taken
are as under:-

28

The Rationale for the research was described in detail to the management of NADRA
and it is also mentioned in Chapter 1 of this research. A written consent from the
management of the organisation was obtained to conduct this research. The consent
letter is attached as Appendix 5. The participants were made clear about the purpose
and application of this research and the same was communicated in the covering letter
of the questionnaire which is attached as Appendix 1. The participants were assured
that they can withdraw from this research without penalty and if they chose to respond
the mentioning of name is optional in the questionnaire. The questionnaires filled by the
employees are in the safe custody of the researcher and would not be communicated to
anyone. Any information provided which may bring harm to the participant in case it is
revealed is kept anonymous and confidential. Moreover the PC of the researcher is a
password protected. The management of NADRA were informed about the details of the
research and they will be debriefed about the findings as well. A sincere effort was
made to follow the Data Protection Act and the Economic and Social Research Council
(2005), Research Ethics Framework have been followed. All possible measures were
taken in order to make this research more ethical.
organisation was not communicated to anyone.

29

Any data which may harm the

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33

Employee Turnover survey in NADRA

Part 1 :
Employee Information
Note:- This information provided by you below will be kept strictly confidential and is
collected for statistical purposes only (Please use capital letters wherever required)
Name (optional)
Gender

What is your age?

Male
Female

18 - 25
26 - 35
35 - 45
46 55
55 +

What is the Highest Level of your education?

Secondary School
Higher Secondary School
Undergraduate
Post Graduate

How long you have been working for

the organization?
Less than 1 year
1 to 3 years
4 to 5 years
5+ years

Your Area of Work

How long you are working on current

post

NSRC(Local office)
Mobile Office
PHQ (Provincial Headquarter)
RHQ (Regional Headquarter)
HQ (Headquarter)

Less than 1 year

1 to 3 years
4 to 5 years
5+ years

34

Part II
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction with Pay (Index of Organizational Reactions Questionnaire; Smith, 1976)

1. I am satisfied with the Pay considering what it costs to live in this area

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

2. The way pay is handled around here does make it worthwhile for a person to work
especially hard

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

3. For the job I do, I feel that the amount of money I make is satisfactory

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Satisfaction with Nature of Work (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire; Weiss et al.,

1967)
4.
I get chances to try my own methods of doing the job

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

5.
The nature of my work gives me the chance to do something that makes use of my
abilities

Strongly

Agree

Neutral

35

Disagree

Strongly

Agree

6.

Disagree

The nature of my work provides me the freedom to use my own judgment.

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Satisfaction with Supervision (Index of Organizational Reactions Questionnaire; Smith,1976)

7.
I feeling I would be better off working under different supervision

Strongly
Agree
8.

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

The behavior of my supervisor encourages me to put in extra efforts

Strongly
Agree
9.

Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

The behaviour of my supervisor have a favourable influence on my Job

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Organizational Commitment ( Porter et al., 1974)

36

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

10.

I talk up this organization to my friends as a great organization to work for,

Strongly
Agree
11.

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

I feel being very loyal to this organization

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

12. I find that my values and the organizations values are very similar

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

13. I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organization

Strongly
Agree
14.

Neutral

this organization really inspires the very best in me in the way of job performance

Strongly
Agree
15.

Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

I really care about the fate of this organization

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

37

16.
I am extremely glad that I chose this organization to work for over others I was
considering at the time I joined

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Distributive Justice (Magner et al., 1994)

17. I received the evaluation that I deserved

Strongly
Agree
18.

Agree

Neutral

an independent observer from outside the organization would have made a similar
judgment about my performance,

Strongly
Agree
20.

Neutral

The evaluation reflects the quality of my performance

Strongly
Agree
19.

Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

I consider the evaluation to be fair

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Turnover Intention (Cummann et al, 1979)

38

21.

I probably look for a new job in the next year

Strongly
Agree
22.

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree

Strongly
Disagree

I often think about quitting

Strongly
Agree
23.

Agree

Agree

I will likely actively look for a new job in the next year

Strongly
Agree

Agree

Neutral

Additional Comments:

39

Thank you

Appendix 2
Time Scale Chart

Outline Research Schedule

Request for conducting the research in EFU Life Ltd

Submission of research proposal
Literature review
Distribution of questionnaires
Interviews with managers
Observations and Calculations
Left over or repeated interviews
Data Analysis
Typing of draft dissertation
Discuss tentative findings with supervisor
Finalisation of draft dissertation
Review with supervisor
Finalise the dissertation
Final Submission

40

Dec

Nov

Oct

ACTIVITY

Sep

Aug

Month

Appendix 3
Contact Person

Mr Qaisar Zulifqar
Assistant Manger
National Database Registration Authority
FAISALABAD, Pakistan

41