Introduction
Working environments are associated with relevant hazardous conditions influencing the health and safety of the employees. It is vital for organizations to improve the safety and health conditions of the employees. This indicates that it is essential for the management to focus on the identification of the hazardous conditions and there control management issues. This entails identification of the factors contributing to the creation of the hazardous environment. The organization will have the opportunity to understand the influence of these factors on the motivation, performance, and productivity levels of employees.
Problem Statement
Hazardous environment is essential for the productivity levels of the employees and concepts of job satisfaction. This makes it critical for the understanding of the concept of the hazardous condition within the workplace. This research exercise will focus on the identification of factors causing hazardous conditions. It will also focus on the evaluation of the influence of the factors on the performance, productivity, and job satisfaction in relation to the employees of the organization. The project intends to offer valid ground for the solution to the hazardous conditions and their influence on employees.
Rationale for the Research
Execution of this research will enable organizations to identify, evaluate, and manage the concept of hazardous environment in relation to the aspects of the employees. This will contribute towards the minimization of the extent of harms to health and safety of the employees.
Statement of the Research Objectives
This research will focus on the achievement of these objectives:
To identify factors causing hazardous environment thus affecting health and safety of the employees
To determine the influence of the hazardous environment on the employees productivity levels, job satisfaction, and performance
To determine the existence of the awareness on the hazardous workplace to employees
To evaluate the availability and influence of the policies guiding hazardous management in the workplace
Hypothesis
The execution of this research will focus on the following hypotheses:
H1: vulnerability to stress, stress symptoms, and job risk determine the level of job satisfaction thus influence on the safety and health of the workplace
H2: Individual and environmental factors contribute towards the minimization of the employees’ participation as equal team players thus the development of hostile environment and reduction of the safety and health conditions of the organization
H3: organizational, chemical, biological, physical, and social factors contribute towards the development of hazardous workplace thus affecting the performance, job satisfaction, and productivity of the employees.
Definition of Terms
Hazardous environment refers to the compositions of harms or risks that affect the health and safety of employees or individuals within the area of context. Physical factors or agents refer to the equipment, materials, machines, and plants resulting into the creation of hazardous conditions. Organizational agents refer to components such as culture, values, commitment, and ideas of the organization resulting into the creation of hazardous environment. Individual factors refer to aspects of the attitudes, perceptions, and ideas on a person in relation to the context of the workplace. Chemical factors constitute agents such as toxic chemicals and wastes from the factories or industries contributing towards the creation of the hazardous condition. Qualitative research refers to the study of events or things in their natural states with the aim of making sense through interpretation of the perspective of the respondents or population of the study.
Summary
Several factors contribute towards the creation of the hazardous environment. These factors include psychological, social, individual, environmental, physical, biological, and chemical factors among others. These factors have considerable influence on the performance, productivity, and job satisfaction in relation to the employees. This research will adopt and implement the concepts of qualitative research method to evaluate and provide accurate information in relation to the four research questions. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the process will incorporate interviews as the research instrument to supplement the aspect of literature reviews. The completion of the project will take approximately four weeks. Analysis of the data will adopt qualitative analysis in relation to the identification of the independent and dependent variables.
Literature Review
Literature review illustrates that workers face several challenges in the workplace in addition to the health threats, such as chemical, flammable or combustible materials, and toxins. Some of the challenges faced by employees include underemployment, job insecurity, competition, harassment, discrimination, and dead-end jobs (Jones, 1996). According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, these challenges contribute to the development of hazardous workplace for the employees. According to Reeve (2005), the practices of the occupational health and safety must focus on the handling of the physical, biological, and chemical agents towards the minimization of the harms. For the management to enhance safety and health at the workplace, it is essential to identify and manage risks or hazardous agents such as chemical, biological, physical, and other relevant source of harm to the employees. According to Reeve (2005), other factors that contribute towards the development of hostile work environment include tight monitoring or supervision, exposure to technologies, and essence of personal protection or privacy. This is an indication of the existence of the hazardous conditions in both blue and white-collar jobs and responsibilities.
According to numerous studies, different factors play critical roles in the development of hazardous work environments in most organizations from relevant industries. According to the study by Mearns et al, (2004), in addition to the physical and, chemical or biological factors, social and organizational factors also influence the health and safety of the employees. In order to prove this notion, the researchers administered a questionnaire in relation to the study of Norwegian and UK offshore employees. The gathered information was measured on the scale of factors such as safety measures, risks perception, and attitudes to safety, job situation, social support, and commitment to safety (Mearns et al, 2004). In the context of the study, there is evidence that, in the heavy industries, employees experience the effects of the organizational and social factors in relation to their perception towards accidents and safety measures within the workplace. Despite the aspect of variance, most variables that influence the health and safety of the workplace include a commitment of management to safety and relevant attitudes to safety. Other factors include job situations and communication mechanisms.
Studies on the individual and environmental factors also support social and psychological factors on the health and safety of the work environments. According to Nair (2007), the employees’ motivation and willingness to share knowledge depends on the individual factors such learner’s readiness, emotional stability, and self-efficacy. These individual factors contribute towards the minimization of the employees’ participation as equal team players thus the development of hostile environment and reduction of the safety and health conditions of the organization (Nair, 2007).
Currently, efforts in relation to the investigation of the hazardous factors reducing the quality of safety and health conditions of the work environment relate to the job satisfaction of an employee. The study by Sunal et al, (2011) focused on the role of job satisfaction, stress symptoms, risk perception, and vulnerabilities on the workers within industries such as mining and sandblasting. The research design in this study focused on the testing of hypotheses application of the sample population of 220 workers in the context of job satisfaction/stress, physical conditions, individual factors, autonomy, organizational policies, and interpersonal relations. The result indicated that vulnerability to stress, stress symptoms, and job risk determine the level of job satisfaction thus influence on the safety and health of the workplace (Sunal et al, 2011).
The study by Hofman & Stetzer (1996) is an illustration of the role of the organizational factors in the occurrence of industrial accidents. The study focused on factors such as safety climate, group procedures, individual factors, intention in relation to engaged safe/unsafe act, and role perception. The results of the study indicated that the factors were critical in the cause of industrial accidents due to their influence in the acquisition of unsafe behaviors by the employees. Unsafe behaviors are contrary to the culture, values, regulations, and rules of the organization. Early studies are essential in the identification of the organizational factors such as performance pressure and defective communication thus errors in the information processing and social pressures (Hofman & Stetzer, 1996).
Methodology
This research will adopt and implement the concept of qualitative research method thus the opportunity to promote discovery, insight, and interpretation of data in relation to the research question (Noor, 2008). The research method will enable illustration and interpretation of the information from the perspectives of the respondents. Qualitative research method will address the needed dynamism through the application of numerous research questions.
Participants
Sample of the population to participate in the research exercise will consist of 100 employees from IT, retail business, and service industries. The research questions will involve incorporation of the qualitative research method for the collection, evaluation, and development of solutions to the problems. The questions for the participants will relate to their experience with the hazardous work environment and the entire influence on the job performance and satisfaction.
Research Design
The research design will focus on addressing the following research questions in relation to the study on the hazardous work environments:
1. What factors do employees in the organization identify as causing a hazardous or hostile work environment?
2. To what extent does the hazardous environment due to identified factors affect their work rate, job performance, and job satisfaction?
3. Are there hazardous awareness information provided by the employer? If yes, to what extent does the management affect safety and health measures to reduce hazards?
4. Are there policies to guide employees on how to handle hazardous factors or events? If, yes, how effective are the policies in preventing and responding to hazards?
Instrumentation and Data Collection Plans
The primary data collection instrument for the execution of this research is the interview thus the opportunity to obtain information from the perspective of the interviewee (Kyale, 1996). This will enable the respondents to comprehend their perceptions of their problems in the workplace. The execution of the research interview will focus on the implementation of the guidelines as presented in the interview structure (see appendix). Interview questions will address the research questions and objectives for the enhancement of credibility and valid of the process. In case of expansive distance between the interviewer and the interviewee, the research design will incorporate application of mobile and telephones to execute quality interviews.
The interview structure will focus on the introductory element illustrating the importance and needs for the execution of the research. The interviews will take about one week to meet the period of four weeks for the completion of the research. The organization, interpretation, and inference or storage of the data will follow collection of the information through interview research instruments. This will constitute the report for the analysis of the findings and results of the study.
Proposed Analysis of the Data
The projected outcomes of the research include various factors, elements, and situations in the context of the workplace deemed to cause hazardous workplace. The research expects to collect information through extensive interviews and literature review on related studies. The expected outcomes of the interview processes include factors such as stress, commitment of management to safety and health, vibrations, temperature, toxic chemicals, and lighting. The analysis of the data will focus on the identification and categorization of the factors from the study process into physical, psychological, biological, organizational, social, and chemical causes to the hazardous condition. The projected outcomes also include the influence of the hazardous conditions on the productivity levels, motivation, satisfaction, and teamwork participation by the employees. The analysis will integrate qualitative research analysis with physical, biological, organizational, social, and chemical agents as the independent variables. The dependent variable in this analysis is the hazardous work environment. Other dependent variables include productivity level, motivation, job satisfaction, work rates, and willingness for participation in teamwork. The analysis will also consider ontology, axiology, and epistemology in the enhancement of credibility and validity of the research. This is through elimination of the subjective assumptions, beliefs, perceptions, and ideologies in influencing the outcome of the research (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008). Analysis of the data will focus on the illustration of the concepts of positivism and objectivity thus the achievement of credibility and validity of the research.
Implications and Limitations
One of the implications is the achievement of representative ideas generated by the sample in relation to the proposed population. This is because of the hectic nature of the collection of data in relation to the large samples or population sizes. The discovery from the proposed sample should represent actual proposed population of the study. One of the limitations in the execution of the research is the expensive nature in relation to the availability of resources. Another limitation is the massive time consumption for the completion of the project.
Time Schedule
The execution of the research exercise is supposed to take approximately four weeks. The time line or schedule for the execution of the research exercise will consist of four critical stages with the aim of meeting the needs and the requirements of the research questions. Prior to the execution of the research in accordance with the time line, the research project will ensure organization and availability of the resources vital for the completion of the study. The stages involved in the study will include research stage, writing stage, revision stage, and proofreading stage.
Week 1: Research Stage
This stage will focus on the identification of the research articles from relevant databases and bibliographies guides in the context of the previous studies on the same topic or research questions. The first week of the process will also oversee the organization of the interviews, surveys, and observations in relation to the outlining of the functions. The main objective in the first week of the study will be to execute effective interviews, outline relevant functions, and conduct extensive literature review on the topic of study.
Week 2: Writing Stage
This stage will focus on the documentation of the outcome of the first stage of the study. This entails focusing on the development of the background information, problem statements, and identification and integration of valuable arguments. The stage will oversee the development of the first draft.
Week 3: Revision Stage
This stage will oversee solicitation of the readers or audiences’ counter arguments thus revising the previous draft developed in the second week of the research completion schedule. It is also essential to incorporate conclusion and concrete introduction at this stage of the research process.
Week 4: Proofreading Stage
This stage will focus on the elimination of the grammatical errors, punctuation errors, and spelling or typographical mistakes. The last stage will also concentrate on the adjustment of the margins and incorporation of the page numbers. The last aspect involves the submission of quality research paper following critical evaluation of the available resources.
Personnel
The development and execution of this research will require the services and professionalism of two types of personnel: senior personnel and research assistants (other personnel). The focus of the senior personnel will be on the development of the research questions, designs, objectives, and methodology with the aim of enhancing credibility, reliability, and validity of the research. This will be through the development of explicit hypotheses and research questions in accordance with the schedule or time line for the completion of the study. The second group (research assistants) will contribute through the execution of the research instruments in the form of interviews. This entails collection of data through unbiased means to minimize the influence of error in the findings and result analysis.
Budget
Objective/Resource Estimated Amount ($)
Senior Personnel 100
Other Personnel/Research Assistance 50
Equipment 250
Travel 75
Materials & Supplies 80
Consultant 60
Printing 20
Total Cost of the Research Exercise 635
Resources
In the execution of the research, several resources will play vital roles in the realization and achievement of the targets or objectives of the study. One of the crucial aspects of resources is the equipment (communication systems such as computers and networking services, mobile phones, and means of transportation). These equipment and tools will oversee the application of the research design and instruments thus the achievement of credible research findings. Another resource is the concept of database and bibliography guides to facilitate the collection of data through extensive literature review. Time is also essential in the completion of the research project thus the opportunity to address objectives and targets of the study. According to schedule or time line, the execution of the research will require approximately four weeks of extensive stages. Human resources will also be vital in the completion of the research project. This is through incorporation of the research assistants and personnel in the development and execution of the research design and procedures. Availability of these resources will also depend on the essence of the financial resources. This indicates that financial resources are also valuable in the achievement of the budget proposal and targets of the research study. Other resources for the achievement of the goals and objectives of the study will also include consent forms and interview structures.
Needed Assurance/Clearances
Participation of the population sample consisting of human beings will depend on the understanding and signing of the clearance/consent form by the participants. The execution of the research will adopt and implement the clearance form of this structure (see appendix)
Questions for Surveys/Questionnaires/Interviews
The development and execution of the research interviews will highlight on the objectives and research questions thus the need to acquire credible and valid findings and results of the study. The structure of the research interview documentation will follow the guidelines in the process of interaction between the research assistants and the population sample. The structure for the interview will follow this format (see appendix).
References
Hofman, D. &Stetzer, A. (1996).A cross-level investigation of factors influencing unsafe behaviors and accidents.Personnel Psychology, ABI/INFORM, 49(2), 307-339.
Jones, L. K. (1996). A harsh and challenging world of work: Implications for counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development : JCD, 74(5), 453-453.
Mearns, K., Rundmo, T., Flin, R., Gordon, R., & Fleming, M. (2004).Evaluation of psychosocial and organizationalfactors in offshore safety: a comparative study. Journal of Risk Research, 7(5), 545-561.
Nair, P. K. (2007). A path analysis of relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, motivation to transfer, and transfer of learning: Perceptions of occupational safety and health administration outreach trainers. Texas A&M University).ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 194-n/a.
Reeve, P. (2005). Health and safety: Hazardous agents.The Safety & Health Practitioner, 23(2), 58-58.
Sunal, A.B., Sunal, O., &Yasin, F. (2011).A Comparison of Workers Employed in HazardousJobs in Terms of Job Satisfaction, Perceived Job Riskand Stress: Turkish Jean Sandblasting Workers, DockWorkers, Factory Workers and Miners.Soc Indic Res 102, 265-273.
Bryman, A.(2006). Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research: How is it Done? Qualitative Research, Sage publications, 6(1), 97-113.
Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y.(1994).Handbook of qualitative Research. California, USA: Sage publications, 3-5.
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Jackson, P. (2008), Management Research, 3rd ed., SAGE Publications Ltd., London.
Flowers, P.(2009).Research Philosophies-Importance and Relevance.leading learning and change Cranfield school of management, 1(Jan’09).
Kvale, S.(1996).Interviews: introduction to Qualitative research Interviews. California: Sage publications, London.
Noor, K.B.M.(2008). Case Study: A Strategy Research Methodology.American Journal of Applied Sciences, 5(11), 1602-1604.
Appendices
Interview Structure
Introduction
“Good morning/evening/afternoon (depending on the time of the interview) participant. Following your agreement to participate in the study concerning the hazardous work environments, I would like to ask you some questions requiring precise answers in relation to your understanding. You cooperation is highly appreciated”.
Questions
What are your names? ___________________________________
Are you employed and what is your profession?______________
What is your gender/sex?___________________
What is your marital Status? ________________
What factors do you consider as the main causes of the hazardous or hostile work environment?
To what extent do you think the hazardous environment in relation to the factors identified influence your work rate, job performance, and job satisfaction?
Do you think there is awareness information provided by your employer? If yes, to what extent does the management influence safety and health measures in relation to the minimization of the hazardous work environments?
Are there relevant policies to direct or guide employees on the management of the hazardous factors or events within your organization? If yes, are the policies effective in preventing and responding to the hazardous conditions or environments? If yes, to what extent are the policies effective in the achievement or realization of their objectives and goals?
“Thank you for your participation towards the completion of this research, your responses are greatly appreciated”.
Clearance Form
Introduction
You are requested to participate in the voluntary research project as described below. Please make a valid decision under the influence of quality discussion with friends and relatives before agreeing to participate in the research. You are free to ask the researcher on any unclear concept of the research.
Why study is done?
You have been asked to participate in the research study aiming to analyze the aspect of hazardous work environments with the motive of offering valuable solutions to the problem of the study.
What is involved in the study?
If you agree to participate in the study, you will be requested to answer to the questions of the research interview through one-on-one context with the research assistant or telephone interview process.
What are the risks and relevant discomfort of the study?
There are no ideal risks in the participation of the research exercise because of the minimal negative impact on the life of the participants.
What will happen in case of injury during the study?
The requirements of the research exercise does not put the lives of the participants in danger thus no threat or risk of injury during the execution of the study or experiment.
Are there benefits for participation in the study?
The research process is voluntary thus no direct benefit in relation to the participation in the research study. Participation in the research will enhance your knowledge on the concept of the research questions.
What other options are there?
Either you can decide to participate or not in this research exercise since there is no penalty for deciding not to take part in the experiment.
Who is paying for the Experiment?
The funding process and sources will incorporate internal and external entities.
What are the costs?
There are no directs as the research assistants will conduct interviews at the comfort of your places. In case of long distances, the interviews will be essential through mobile phones.
Participants Name: _____________________ Date: ________________
Participants Signature: __________________ Time: ___________________
Clearance form presented & witnessed by: ____________________________
Signature of the Personnel:__________________ Date: ________________________
