141 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN BUSINESS Before commencing the work of developing this Following the work of Katzenbach and Smith (2003), research proposal, Malika discussed her idea for her this research project will provide a model for the research project with her thesis supervisor. Her supervisor development of small teams in business. According agreed that this was an interesting and useful research to Katzenbach and Smith, team performance is one of project and she accepted this research as appropriate in the single largest untapped resources of most orga- terms of the programme of study Malika is undertaking, nizations. Katzenbach and Smith state that 'commit- which is for a BSc in Business Management. ment to goals' and 'shared purpose' is critical to team Having secured this approval, Malika developed the success; leadership, they write, is key. Yuki (2010) following research proposal. She submitted this to her holds that leadership is in part about the organization thesis supervisor who formally endorsed it. of work activities and the motivation of people (the team) to meet objectives. A research proposal The use of teams has increased in organizations, as shown by Morgeson et al. (2010, see also McCle- Research statement: This research project is an action skey 2014). They outline how research in manage- research project designed to improve the performance ment has begun to focus on the role of leadership in of a team of waiting staff at the Bon Viveur Restaurant. developing teams and in team success. Vasilagos, Polychroniou and Maroudas (2017) highlight the Aim and objectives importance of emotional intelligence, the supervisors The aim of the research is to improve the performance intrapersonal and interpersonal emotional intelligence of a team of waiting staff at the Bon Viveur Restaurant. competencies and his or her transformational leader- The objectives of the research are as follows: ship capability. Transformational leadership is a key concept in this study. . To measure current performance of the team of The literature review for this research project will waiting staff. explore: . To establish which aspects of the performance warrant improvement. the nature of teams in business organizations . To consider the contribution of the supervisory . the critical issues in team success team to the performance of the team of waiting . the nature of team leadership in relation to staff. successful teams. To design a process by which performances of both teams might be improved. Research methodology . To implement this process. The methodology to be used in the study is action . To measure the performance of both of the teams research (Brydon-Miller et al., 2003: McNiff and White- following implementation. head, 2009; McNiff 2017). Action research is a research . To evaluate the efficacy of the improvement methodology designed in particular to bring about process. change and development. As the focus of this research To develop a model for the development of small project is on developing the performance of a team teams in business enterprises. the methodology action research is an quorooj ale methodology. The population of the study Action research methodology follows a cyclical famer The population of the study consists of the ten than a linear process, whereby the researcher first pon's members of the team of waiting staff the researcher the research to be undertaken and then acts, putting ins supervises in her work as weekend manager at the plans into action. When the action has been completed, Bon Viveur Restaurant; six members of the supervisory the researcher critically reflects on the action and on team; ten members of the restaurant's management what was accomplished by the action. Finally, the team; and 40 of the restaurant's regular customers. researcher evaluates the action. Having evaluated the action, the researcher may begin the cyclical process Sample literature review again, by planning the next stage of the research, imple- menting the plan, reflecting on the implementation and This research project is focused on team perfor- the impact of the implementation, and finally evaluating mance. The focus of the review of the literature for the effect of the process. The researcher can repeat the this research project is on performance, on team cyclical process as often as possible or as often as is training and development for improved performance. necessary, in order to bring about the desired change. (Continued)implemented and on two Saturday nights after the The data collection methods to be used in the study changes have been implemented. In all, 40 regular are as follows: customers will participate in the study. The question- naire will also be administered to all ten members of focus group the restaurant's management team. The data will be observation analyzed using SPSS. Statistical Package for Soci questionnaire. Scientists is a computerized statistical analysis pack- To begin with, the researcher will convene a focus age, used for the analysis of social scieno science data. The group with the ten members of the waiting team. The responses to the 'before' and 'after' ques er' questionnaires wil purpose of the focus group is to explore the views of be compared and conclusions will be drawn regarding the team in relation to the improvements in perfor- the impact of the research on the customer experience. mance needed and the improvements in performance possible. The focus group will be audio recorded. The researcher will transcribe the audio recording and, from Context for the research the transcript, develop a plan for the implementation of The research is being undertaken for a BSc in Business the improvements decided on by the members of the Management. The research will be conducted as a focus group. The researcher will then convene a focus group training and development exercise with the team of ten with the six members of the supervisory team. The waiting staff the researcher supervises, and the team of researcher will prepare a focus group schedule, based in six supervisors the researcher works with, in her role as part on the data gathered in the focus group conducted weekend manager at the Bon Viveur Restaurant in the with the waiting staff. The purpose of the focus group village of Martens, in Upper Lakelands. is to explore the views of the team in relation to the improvements in performance needed and the improve- Rationale for the research ments in performance possible. The focus group will be audio recorded. The researcher will transcribe the In undertaking the research, the researcher hopes audio recording and, from the transcript, develop a plan to contribute to the development of her team and for the implementation of the improvements decided on her workplace. Through the research, she hopes to by the members of the focus group. develop some expertise in action research and the use During the implementation phase of the research, of action research in training and development. Finally, the researcher and both of the teams will observe the she hopes through the research to make a contribution impact of the changes in performance. Two observa- to knowledge in relation to small team management. tion schedules will be developed for this purpose. The The researcher plans to publish an account of the first observation schedule will be used to record the research in the trade magazine Restaurants Today. A implementation of the proposed changes in perfor- copy of the thesis, the formal account of the research, mance. The second observation schedule will be used will be placed in the university library. to measure the impact of the changes. Finally, the researcher will develop a questionnaire designed to measure the impact of the changes in Question: What do you think of Malki's research performance on the customer experience. This ques- proposal? Do you think the project is in searchable, tionnaire will be administered to ten regular custom- using the test of researchability outlined ir Chapter 1? ers on two Saturday nights before the changes are Explain your answer. Does Malika's research proposal give you any ideas for your own research project?going to situate her research project in the restaurant. CASE STUDY The owner of the restaurant has given her permission to do this. Malika feels that the team she manages in the restaurant could improve their performance and she feels that such an improvement in performance would lead to an enhanced customer experience. Malika's action research project Malika's team in the restaurant consists of ten wait- Malika has a part-time job working as a weekend ing staff. They have all agreed to participate in the manager in a restaurant. She has decided that she is research. (Continued)