Case Studies
Why Case Studies?
Interviews, focus group, what do they reveal?
Learning from the Case Study trail …
Why did I decide on case studies?
The aim of my doctoral study was to investigate what employee empowerment means in theory and in practice, (Huq, 2016).
As case studies are used to allow researchers examine complex issues and situations in-depth, I chose this method, to get a deeper understanding of what employee empowerment means in theory and how organisations apply it in practice.
I used multiple data collection methods, such as, focus groups, interviews, observations, and company documents, to gather rich and detailed information.
Case studies can also identify links between the problem that is being studied and the outcomes and findings, this also helps generate new and innovative way of finding solutions to the problem identified, helping to build theory.
I was also aware that conducting case study would mean I would have to learn about qualitative research, which already had an attraction for me, and this would be a valuable tool for the research. It can provide in-depth information to understand people’s experiences of empowerment by going deep into the core of the subject, and interestingly how it may differ from theory, or whether it does at all or not.
Interpreting the data
It is important to highlight that case study data collection is not merely a matter of interviewing people, recording the data, one must also be able to interpret the information without bias, and this is so relevant with AI now. There is a plethora of data around us, but the critical thing for people in organisations is to be able to interpret the data produced by AI in a non-biased way.
What I liked about using the case study method is that case studies are noted to be useful tools for contributing to knowledge which interestingly the findings of my research do, and I will share this in another blog post.
Considering these points, I used the case study method, of two information-rich organisations in the UK, one was a Large Organisation, a British-owned multinational communications company and the other an SME, Small Organisation, privately owned manufacturing company.
The interesting thing about choosing the case organisations was that there was one important criterion that both these organisations had to fulfil, that is, they had to have addressed employee empowerment and implement in their organisation.
As both my case study organisations were winners of The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Excellence Award, they would necessarily have had to address the employee empowerment sub-criterion and would have been assessed in relation to it, so in this respect they fulfilled the requirements of the study.
Valuable lessons learnt about employee empowerment from my case studies.
Through one-to-one interviews and focus groups, I uncovered the real stories behind the data. The narratives and the conversations provided fresh insights into how people felt during the employee empowerment process. I was able to capture the 'behind-the-scenes' psychological, emotional, and the unfiltered stories of the human side of what really happens during organisational change, which in these cases, were introducing ‘empowerment’ in trying to change the culture of the organisations.
What was highly interesting is that both the case study organisations chose two different pathways to employee empowerment; Large Organisation implemented through formal methods while the Small Organisation went mostly for informal methods.
There are valuable lessons to learn about employee empowerment from my case studies, as you will find out in this and future blogs.
Patton’s (1987) point that case studies are particularly valuable when the interpretation aims to capture individual differences or unique variations was relevant to my research. I began to look at the similar and dissimilar aspects of both the case study organisations, and did an in-depth cross case analysis, that made it more interesting and made it less cumbersome!
Case studies are a great way for enhancing knowledge and learning lessons. Leaders get busy with the change programme and forget the learning is so important.
My case studies involved organisations that were implementing a culture change - a change from a ‘command and control’ culture to an empowering culture.
But, there were problems - and important lessons can be learnt from each of these problems and other difficulties that the organisations were going through.
➡️ Avoid guess work!
➡️ Address your pain points
➡️ Take the Case on.
Happy Learning!
Learn from those who have walked the ‘empowerment’ path from their failures and success!
Most leaders say lack of knowledge about employee empowerment and how to implement it are their pain points. Are these your pain points too?
If you are curious to know how they coped with all the problems and the difficulties, then book a free consultation and find out how my Case Studies can help you to be aware of managing change and moving your organisational culture to one that is empowering, where people are allowed to make decisions, have a voice, be innovative and creative. As a leader, you can learn how to create an empowered culture where your team members can grow and thrive.
Book a free consultation and find out how you can benefit by learning about Employee Empowerment & the Psychological Impact and a way forward to implement it.
Learn from those who have walked the ‘empowerment’ path from their failures and their success!
You may also request a complimentary presentation.
References
Huq, R. (2016) The Psychology of Employee Empowerment. Concepts, Critical Themes and a Framework for Implementation. Publisher Routledge.
Read the book review by the President of BQF (British Quality Foundation).
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:share:7224052547924172801/
Patton, M.Q. (1987); How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation, California, Sage Publications.
Leadership Learning with Dr Rozana™ is written by
Dr Rozana Huq
Founder and Director
RHM LEADERSHIP
➡️ Empower ➡️ Inspire ➡️ Lead