AR Reflection

I have come to understand the exciting venture action research can become when researching in your own organization.  Unforeseen implications and challenges have come my way just to get to my first cycle complete.  These challenges have to do with the unpredictable instances that occur in a busy workplace like mine.

For my first cycle, I am planning to do a data analysis of an employee satisfaction survey that was conducted last summer for the Quality Services Staff in my department.  This data is very important because it will help me measure how employees felt and what was done afterward before I transitioned into that department which will help me act, reflect on the action and then act again in a new way so that I can then formulate another survey to conduct after and then commence my second cycle for the purpose of improving our employee’s motivation.

Unfortunately, as of today, I have not been able to gather the data of this survey because of the following issues that have occurred in my department.  First, my permission to utilize the data from that previous employee satisfaction survey was put on hold because my boss, the Director, had to undergo an emergency surgery and was out for 3 weeks.  Second, we lost one supervisor a month and a half ago, which led to more work on my part because I had to take on more responsibilities and more staff to look over.  I went from supervising 14 staff members to 20.  Once my boss came back from her surgery, I promptly met with her to remind her of the survey data that I had to obtain.  She then told me that I needed to get permission from her boss just to make sure that I can utilize that data.  Last week, my boss informed me that her boss, the COO, told her that I needed permission from the CEO.  Therefore, I met with the CEO last Friday and was given permission verbally.  He asked me to send him an email to explain the reasons for the use of that data and he would respond with an approval so that I can retrieve that data and move forward with my first cycle.  I should have that information by the end of tomorrow (Monday) and will move full force with it.

I can say that at this moment, I am feeling stressed because I had everything planned out a certain way and it has turned out a different way.  I know that once I get that data, my first cycle will be complete and I will conduct the post survey next week based on my findings to do the second cycle and that should bring me some piece of mind.  My third and last cycle, based on my findings of cycle 2 will more than likely be a focus group.

I look forward to making changes in my department with the purpose of improving employee morale and increasing employee motivation with the methods I learned by doing all the research.  This is so much needed due to all the changes happening from Supervisors leaving to our CEO who is temporary because our former CEO of one year resigned.  All of these changes can make employees feel uneasy, decrease employee morale and motivation.  I am hopeful that this action research assignment will be a success for our department.

 

Asynchronous Conversations

Lupe and I met on zoom briefly to discuss the progress of our Action Research Paper.  We both defined what our visions were in terms of our first cycle and the research that we will be doing for our data collection.  In my case, I will be doing a pre and post survey on employee motivation.  The pre-survey will be the first cycle.  This survey was conducted to a group of employees about a year ago.  I am in the process of collecting the data and begin my research and data analysis.  After I collect the report findings, I will then commence my second cycle by creating a new post survey and conduct the survey to the same group of employees.  Once I do the research and data analysis on that, the report findings will guide me to the last cycle, where at this time I am unsure if I will be conducting interviews with a focus group, or implement a employee motivation app to try out for a month and collect the data on that.

At this point, I feel that my Action Research progress is slow because there have been many unpredictable obstacles at work.  My boss had to go on leave for a medical emergency which caused my work to double up with very little time to focus on my action research assignment.  I am hopeful that things will lighten up soon so that I can move on full force.

AR – Mini Lit Review Table

Employee Motivation is a very important topic for leaders and managers to deal with.  As a new manager in non-profit organization, I find his topic to be extremely essential and believe it can become a central problem if it’s not dealt with.

What are some ways that leaders and managers can improve employee motivation?

Force field analysis on employee motivation in the workplace

I typically struggle when it comes to making decisions.  I tend to have too many ideas and when it gets down to selecting only one, I get stuck.  Luckily for me, I learned about a great tool called force field analysis that was created by Kurt Lewin, a social psychologist, in the 1940’s.  The idea behind this tool is that it assists in decision making situations in all areas of life and professions.  The main idea behind this force field analysis is that situations are maintained by an equilibrium between forces that drive change and others that resist change.  I will be applying this force field analysis in my action research topic to make sure that the topic I selected, is viable and conducive for a proposal of change. I selected employee motivation and the big question is “How to improve employee motivation in a highly structured non-profit organization?”

Out of my other five topics that I thought needed to be investigated to find a solution, I chose this one because our organization has undergone many changes causing our focus to derail from what is very important, our employees.  My department is a prime example.  Before our contract ended with our main funder, we had about 12 employees. But once our contract ended, we had to think about sustainability efforts therefore, we placed our focus on business development and began recruiting for contracts with early childhood organizations, school districts and county offices of education.  Our business development efforts proved fruitful, we managed to establish a dozen contracts, which demanded more man power therefore, two years later we have grown more than triple in size.  This has caused our organization and department to have many new employees that are not really known, more importantly, not recognized.

As a new supervisor hired in a growing department, I feel it is extremely important to motivate our employees.  I want to be the best leader possible and the only way I can do this is to gain trust from my employees.  To gain trust, I need to recognize, motivate, praise, and acknowledge.  All this sounds easy but in an organization that is highly structured,  with a high demand of work and that depends on funding, it poses a challenge.  As a result, I have identified the forces for change.  I propose to establish an incentive program and build a circle of trust with employees, which in return will improve work performance and employee retainment.  The forces against my proposed change are our funding availability, understanding that every employee is different and has different needs, time spent for non-financial type of motivation, and the possibility of employee conflict and resentment with a rewards type program.  Based on my force field analysis scoring, the forces for change outweigh the forces against it. Below is my force field analysis:

AR – In an ideal non-profit world

In an ideal non-profit world sustainability would be a given.  Donations and grants would pour left and right which would make our organization’s mission easier to accomplish.  Unfortunately, in the real world, that is not the case.  We must look for ways to stay afloat and remain sustainable.  Our organization has stellar employees with a decade or more of early childhood experience and advanced degrees.  They utilize their expertise to provide quality resources to teachers by coaching, training, providing quality environmental assessments and technical assistance.  Our mission is to provide high quality early education to all children because studies have shown that students that have an early head start, will succeed in school and ultimately in life (LAUP).

Therefore, in an ideal organization, the desired outcome is recognition of the great services that we provide which would lead to success.  Now, the question is, how do we get there?  I have many questions for that.

• How can we utilize technology to enhance our services?
• How can our organization go global?
• How can we provide online trainings to teachers?
• How can we provide online technical assistance?
• How can our organization go paperless?
• How can we provide web based survey?
• How can we minimize the travel time of our Quality Assessors?
• How can we make our services known in the nation?
• How can we get more grants and funding sources?

I am hoping that with my action research project, I can answer some of these questions by planning, acting, changing and reflecting.

AR – Committed to Social Change

Over the past two weeks, I’ve learned a bit more about AR after reading “Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization” (Coghlan & Brannick) and after reviewing the safety and ethics of clinical trials.  The famous Kurt Lewin was one of the founding fathers of social psychology.  He believed that in social science there is the study of problems of real life; and connected all problems to theory (Coghlan & Brannick).

Action research is committed to social change because it seeks to research problems with appropriate research methods.  Utilizing such AR method like the simple cycle of planning, acting, changing, and reflection is key.  Another key component is to actively involve members of the community as co-researchers.  This helps highlight activism and improvement of social condition because of the engagement of the co-researchers.

I look forward to assisting with the research of the problems that we face in my workplace but need to get ready for the politics that will get involved with researching my own organization.

AR – Ethical Research Reflection on Clinical Trials

I chose to review an ethical research tutorial on the National Cancer Institute.  I learned a great deal on the protection of patients and their rights as well as the safety and ethics of clinical trials.  The protection derives from an array of sources starting with an informed consent process, which is a form signed by the patients where they learn the details about the trial and are informed about the possible risks and benefits. Clinical trials could not be possible without the following committees: A research team, Institutional Review Board (IRB), Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  All of these committees strive to assess all situations that could potentially cause harm but want to ensure patients that they are aware of risks involved with clinical trials.  This is extremely important and follows ethical protocols.

I was very surprised to know that children can be a part of a clinical trial as long as they are mature enough to understand the implications.  Children can either assent, which I learned it means they agree to take part or dissent, which is not agree.

This tutorial helped me make the connection about the importance of ethical behavior when doing action research.  It helps work effectively with the partners involved and get informed consent when needed.

AR – My Workplace

I work in an educational non-profit called Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP). It was established in 2004. Since then, it has supported the development and operation of more than 700 early learning providers in Los Angeles County and prepared over 130,000 young children through enriching curricula and nurturing environments aimed to best prepare children to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. LAUP’s mission at the time, was to provide quality preschool to all four year- old children in Los Angeles county regardless of family income. LAUP received funding directly from First 5 Los Angeles, another early childhood non-profit leader who received its’ funding directly from L.A. County’s CA proposition 10 tobacco tax.  The contract with First 5 Los Angeles ended in 2016 after 12 years due to the decrease of tobacco use over time which is great on a health’s perspective but a loss due to the services that LAUP would be able to provide. It has been a year now since the contract ended and the services that we provide now have changed in regards to funding early learning providers nonetheless, we continue to provide support.  In efforts to be more sustainable and thrive without the funds from First 5 L.A, we, as an organization, had to come up with an innovative strategic plan. Our new mission now is to improve the quality of early learning programs; to strengthen the engagement between parents of young children and their teachers and caregivers; and to advance public policies that invest in the future of America by putting children first.

I’ve been in LAUP for almost nine years.  I started as an analyst for the Legal and Compliance department.  I quickly moved up to a Specialist role and then eventually through hard work and perseverance, worked my way up to become the Supervisor of Compliance. I was the Supervisor of Compliance for over three years.  Currently, my new role is Quality Services Supervisor for the Quality Services Department.

The Quality Services Department plays a big role in the organization’s sustainability efforts.  Some co-workers would call it “the money maker” department.  Our department is composed of a Director of Quality Services, Quality Services Supervisors, Assessors, Anchors, and Project Specialists.  Our Quality Assessors and Anchors hold advanced degrees and are reliable on multiple early childhood assessment tools.  They are committed to improving the child outcomes by providing teaching staff the tools they need to succeed.  These childhood assessment tools measure the quality of early childhood environments and interactions that occur between teachers and children. These tools are:  Infant/Toddler/Early Childhood and Family Child Care environment rating scales.  We also use the Infant/Toddler/Pre-K CLASS interaction scales.  The ultimate goals of utilizing these tools is to measure program quality, which is then used by teachers and coaching staff to develop enhancement planning for goal-setting and growth.

Despite all of the improvements that I have witnessed in LAUP, there are definitely areas that I see opportunities for change.  One of the goals that we have in the organization is to make an impact at a national level.  In order to do that, we would have to use technology to make LAUP global.  I would love to take advantage of this action research opportunity to find innovative ways to make that happen.