Impacts Of Adopting New Technology On Employees In Large-scale Businesses

The Aim of the Study

Discuss about the Impacts of adopting new technology on employees in large-scale businesses.

As we seek to deeply understand the impact of new technology on the employees’ performance in large scale business organizations, Drumea (2016) understand the adoption of new technology in a workplace as an innovation process. A study by Chatterjee, Sarker, and Valacich (2015) defines research as comprising of defining or redefining problems, formulation of hypothesis and suggested solutions, collection, organization and evaluation of data, deduction making and conclusions. This proposal presents information for research to analyze the impact of implementing new technological ideas on the performance of employees in a large scale business working environment. In many cases, I have realized there are many challenges to employees that come with the adoption of new technology. Even though it is good to embrace changes, Dimitrakos (2012) points out those organizations with employees designated responsibilities on different fields and levels find it hard to get along with the new technological advancements. My research will thus focus on examining the outcomes of the technological changes on the employees, customers, and the organization itself.

According to Wirtz and Göttel, 2016 the current business environment is very dynamic and competitive despite the technological advancements that are present today. It is hence recommended that every individual should have an understanding of the need for technology. Every individual with a small or large-scale business idea need to have a clear knowledge and understanding of the impact of new technology on the social business environments for a better employees and customer relations. Drumea (2016) denotes that many employees with little IT skills tend to suffer due to workload while the user readiness level in adopting the technological changes is also small. Iyengar, Sweeney, and Montealegre (2015) note that the adoption of new technology is mainly to grow the business and provide easy training, education, and recruitment services to employees for the benefit of both the employees and the organization. It is supported by Mirvis, Sales, and Hackett (1991) who denote that new technology is not limited to sales, management, and finance, but it is an extensive subject that affects both smalls, medium, and large scale businesses.

Technology is useful for the organization’s performance and work effectiveness. Even for the organizational learning, IT is essential for effective performance of an organization according to Otim et al., (2012). As customer base continue to enlarge for large-scale business organizations coupled with stiff competition and market dynamics, customer satisfaction is a primary objective and can only be met by adopting new technology in the business environment. This paper hence presents a detailed literature review on the adoption of new technology in the business environment.

Study Hypothesis

In working towards a successful research project on the study of the impact of new technology on a global business point of view, the study gives a high priority to the focus on the impact on employees in large scale businesses. It is an area that tends to be more dynamic and with a large number of employees and a load of work. Today, many studies indicate that a business can only be successful if it embraces new technology to facilitate its product advertisements and customer response among other dynamic aspects of the market. In this paper, my objectives will include;

Exploring the impact of new technological techniques in a large scale business organization

Establishing the success factor for adopting new technological information system by the customers and employees in an organization.

The identification of the advantages of implementing new technology in business

The study hypothesis for the research will include;

Every business that is dependent on IT in the current global market requires a well-trained staff

Many business organizations and firms worldwide have adopted the use of new technology for the success of their businesses

The adaptation of new technology has many advantages in the success of a large-scale business in the currently competitive global market.

Every small, medium, or large scale business organization has a reason for adopting new technology while applying specific strategies and techniques to successfully achieve those goals as denoted by Mirvis, Sales, and Hackett (2010). The main research questions will be; what is the impact of adopting new technology on the employees of large-scale businesses?

Before the onset of technology, many companies had limited growth. It was essential for any company to consider operations and activities that could only be handled manually with a limited computer application. For instance, the establishment of resources in the company was difficult since tracking all the resources getting in and out cannot be done in real-time (Cudavov & Jasko, 2012). For that to happen, a company has to stop its operations. Second, the accountability of employees in their different roles was a problem. Unlike in the current days, employees during those times would escape their roles without being noticed. Furthermore, even allocation of jobs to the employees was not done effectively due to fewer communication channels and tools for the allocation of the job (Chua et al., 2012).

Revenue collection and accountability before technology were a huge problem. Many companies’ revenues collected from different sources could be handled well. The problem occurs due to the absence of management tools. Assets utilization problem was also witnessed before implementation of technology (Birch et al., 2014). The reason behind that is due to some of the inventory in the company were over-utilized while others were under-utilized. The problem occurs due to lack of a system that outlines the capacity of the assets available. Non-effective marketing methods further characterize period before implementation of technology. It is tough to meet potential clients without proper marketing methods. Physical meetings and strategies were not only tedious but also frustrating.  However, the emergence and adoption of new technology have brought a big progress in the business sector. The research thus seeks to find out if it has also impacted on the life and performance of employees. The result of the research will be published to provide a better understanding of the employees’ performance as a result of adopting new technology in business.

Research Question

Nature of large scale business environment

Large scale business organizations have traits that differentiate them from small scale businesses. The mode of operation of such kind of business is different and sometimes complicated. First, the huge organization is characterized by a high number of employees. In most cases, the number of employees ranges from 300 to 5000. Furthermore, there are extreme cases, where organizations have more than 10,000 employees. Coca-Cola is one of the big companies with about 37000 employees, as depicted by (Baden-Fuller, 2013). In addition to a high number of employees, huge companies are characterized by diverse technical skills of employees. As depicted by Bilbao-Osorio (2013), any huge company entails engineers, marketers, computer analysts and lawyers. Menzel (2013), points out that Apple Inc. consists of software engineers, marketers, telecommunications experts, hardware engineers, IT specialists and legal practitioners. All these employees are required for the operations of the company.

Large companies also have a high amount of revenue which results from the high level of activity. There are multiple sources of revenue in such companies. It is worth noting that some large organizations have multiple activities that generate revenues like selling commodities such as laptops while also providing software services (Busch, 2013). Additionally, large scale businesses are characterized by a huge number of total assets and inventory. The assets value is normally huge, in most cases more than $ 200 million. They include not only machinery and equipment but also materials, property, and stock. The necessity of these assets is owed to the production and operation processes. Chen, Ramamurthy, and Wen (2012) also note that large-scale organization has multiple locations. These locations may entail plants, warehouses, divisions and branches. Such case is illustrated where Apple Inc., has its assembly plant in China while the headquarters is based in America. Huge organizations also have a management structure that is complex due to multiple levels of hierarchy. All the levels of management are characterized by different responsibilities, power, and authority.

The need to adopt new technology in modern businesses is inevitable according to McDougall (2015). Many reasons accompany integration of technology in production. Currently, technology has helped companies to grow significantly. The online practices have proved to be more efficient than the physical and manual operations. Technology facilitates training and recruitment practices as the hectic processes of sending resumes to the organizations are eliminated when a company develops and implements e-recruitment practices. The process of recruitment is not only fast but very efficient. On the other hand, technology ensures adequate training of employees in an organization. Through technology, programs such as e-learning and evaluation methods are frequently implemented technology (Birch et al., 2014).

Justification and Potential Output

Technology enhances speed and accuracy of decision-making. The decision-making process is vital for every organization. Companies have to make useful decisions on how to produce, where to purchase and where to sell. Through technology, such decisions are easy to make due to accurate forecasting and synthesis of information. In the wake of the modern days characterized by changing fashion, there is a need for organizations to adopt technology to stay relevant. The performance of organization due to improved technology increases. As depicted in the growth of Ford Company, the rise of the company happened due to increased sales as a result of online marketing platform. As further described by Baltzan (2012), technology improves the customer relationship, thereby increasing customer base. Resource management and efficiency are increased due to technology. Technology facilitates quick production due to efficient utilization of resources. It ‘s hard for an organization to manage all resources, especially in the case of huge corporations. Technology plays a vital role through automation of complex processes. Through technology, a team can track the movement of all its resources through the transactions. Due to that, there are minimal errors and confusions, and hence the process takes place smoothly.

Various technological strategies have been implemented in different organizations E-marketing through social media has been one of the effective strategies in enriching the brand and visibility of a company. In addition to e-marketing, major companies have embraced online shopping. Online shopping one of the newly adapted techniques has caused businesses to reap heavily. As indicated by Dunning (2013), Apple Inc. is the major beneficiary of e-marketing. Apple products have been advertised through various online platforms including Twitter and Facebook.  Many organizations also use management tools to streamline the company. Such tools include ERP systems, CRM, and decision-making management systems. One of the key roles is the facilitation of customer relationship through CRM. CRM is a management system which seeks to establish customer loyalty through a well–established relationship. Through CRM, an order can be easily placed by a customer and be delivered easily. Implementation of the program has taken place successfully in Harley-Davidson Company. It is considered a success due to the number of customers; the system has managed to hold.

ERP is another strategy that major organizations have adopted. The system is vital due to the role its play in managing company resources. Additionally, ERP allocates employees their duties hence no overworking or underworking of employees would take place. Dell Company implemented ERP system in the year 2013. Since that time, the company has had huge benefits including reduction of cost, effective utilization of materials in addition to the efficient flow of resources. Learning management system is one of the systems currently in use for the purpose of training.  Instead of the outdated physical lectures, major companies are applying the concept of e-learning using animated videos and lectures that help employees to learn. The advantage of using the method as opposed to the conventional training method is that the information in e-learning platform is relevant and real-time (Hu et al., 2014).

Conceptual Framework: Literature Review

Despite the advantages of technology provided, some challenges result due to the adoption of technology. The most significant challenge is security breach due to cyber crime. A security breach in any company is dangerous since most important details regarding a company can be obtained. Bankruptcy can be caused in case of fraud of money. Banks and other huge organizations have incurred huge losses due to security breaching activities. In addition to security breaching, technology implementation and maintenance remain a serious challenge to many organizations. The systems software and technological experts require huge investments (Bilbao et al., 2013). A company may fail to implement new technology due to the huge cost involved, yet there is no guarantee of returns from the investment. Lastly, technology may become obsolete in case an innovation is established. Companies may fail to implement a new technology due to fear that the technology might become obsolete.

The research methodology is the outline of the survey indicating the steps taken by the research process concerning the operational implications and the hypothesis to the final analysis of data (Mirvis et al., 2011). Research design, thus ensures the arrangement of the data collection and analysis parameters in a manner, aiming at combining relevance to the purpose of the research and its economic procedures (Sekaran & Bougie, 2013). It thus constitutes decision regarding where, why, what, how, and when concerning the research inquiry. It involves the sampling, observational, statistical, and operational design for the study of the new technological techniques adopted in various global business sectors as well as their impacts on the employees.  The methodology of study will adopt the following qualitative and quantitative methods of study.

• Sampling design

According to Goel (2015), the sampling design adopted in a study is based on the element selection technique and the representational basis adopted by a study. The investigation of the information security policies will adopt a random sampling method in selecting the samples of data. The random sampling process will be carried out in five of the top thirty global large-scale businesses. The study will ensure that the top ten global companies selected to adopt the use of IT at different levels of their business systems to make the sampling information relevant to the objective of the study. The study will select the organizations based on the employee size since the objectives of the research mainly target the general employee’s performance and not the organizations themselves. 

• Random sampling design

It will involve the use of questionnaires that will be sent to all the randomly selected employees. The study will then record the number of employees who have responded to the study as it analyses the kind of information filled in the data. The random sampling method will be used in the survey as it is a simple but effective method of sampling and data collection in a less or more homogenous on the information under study.

• Observable design

The observation method adopted in a study involves the different methods utilized in the process of collecting both primary and secondary data for a study. Survey method is commonly adopted for the primary data collection by many researchers (Otim et al., 2012). However, the collection of the primary data for this study will involve the use of observation and direct interview carried out on appropriate management personnel in the selected companies. The questionnaires used for the study will also collect information regarding the views of the employees themselves towards the new technological strategies adopted by the companies.

• Interview method

Interview method involves the presentation of oral-verbal response and stimulus in the process of collecting verbal information from the targeted audiences according to Baltzan (2012). It is the fastest, cheapest, one of the most flexible methods (Menzel, 2013) that will be adopted in the study so as to identify the relevant questions and information that will be adopted in the pilot survey of the study. It will involve a one-on-one discussion with some of the employees of the selected organizations. From the collected information during the pilot survey, questionnaires can thus be formulated with relevant information that targets specific personnel of the selected organizations so as to collect the relevant technology adopted.

• Use of questionnaires

Questionnaires for the study will be formulated with a base on various information security policies, standards, and security procedures that are globally accepted (Lee, Bae, & Choi, 2012). All the questions that will be adopted in the study will as well be subjective questions based on a yes or no type while less than 10% of the questions were of multiple choices. The subsets of the questionnaires will then be distributed to different management departments as per the domains of the organizations. The questionnaires will be forwarded to the respective organizations through the human resource department authority.

According to Chen, Ramamurthy and Wen (2012), statistical tools play a vital role in helping researchers to design the research process, analyze the data collected so as to draw the relevant conclusions of their study. The tools are thus vital in estimating statistical measures and testing the statistical hypothesis. For this study, the collected data will be analyzed using advanced Excel and the SPSS. For the selected organizations, the data collected will e segregated and consolidated using Microsoft Excel. The SPSS will be used to analyze the data further using the frequency distribution as well as CHI-Square tests after coding and exporting the data from Excel. The distribution frequency techniques will also be applied in testing the number of organizations that are for yes and those for against (no) for different relevant parameters of the hypotheses. The hypotheses will be tested using a level of significance that will be generated by the output from the cross tabulation. In making the comparison between different domains, the CHI-square test will be applied. It thus means that the statistical analysis will be performed in two different stages involving the application of the tools of the statistical software (Microsoft Excel 2007 and SPSS 12.0) as well as the data interpretation and conclusion.

The progress of the research project will first involve conducting a pre-visit to the chosen organizations so as to create awareness with the management of the chosen organizations towards the progress of the report in the organizations. It will be then be followed with the chosen data collection techniques so as to collect the relevant data for the research. However, a major challenge is the sufficiency of finance to fund the whole project process.

Parameter	Cost in USD ($)
Transportation	$ 150
Questionnaires	$ 120
Stationary	$50
Data analysis	$ 100
Total	$ 420.00

Parameter	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	March	April	May	June	July	Aug
Pre-visit
Data collection
Data Analysis
Reports
Completion and closure

References

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