| dc.description.abstract | A peek into the working day: Combining multiple data collection techniques to record employee behaviour and discover work patterns within an organisational context.
A detailed recording of the behaviour of the employees is crucial because this is directly related to the success of an organisation. These records have many purposes such as monitoring the key performance indicators (KPIs), measuring the performance of employees, or detecting unwanted or repetitive tasks that can be (partially) automated in the future. Nowadays, business processes are increasingly supported by information systems and involve various actors from multiple departments. The assumption is that these records are an excellent representation of the actual employee behaviour to discover work patterns. However, certain activities are not recorded (properly and/or accurately) or occur outside of the information system(s). Thus, it is not always evident to what extent the records reflect the actual behaviour of the employee(s). This gap has not been investigated properly because existing literature almost exclusively focused on one stand-alone technique.
The study aimed to fill the gap by combining multiple data collection techniques to record employee behaviour and discover work patterns within an organisational context. The goal was to present the (dis-)advantages, and the commonalities and differences between the techniques to examine the level of confidence that should be placed in the analysis of this type of data. The objective was to identify the shortcomings of each technique and the impact it can have on the quality of the records.
We applied two methods in this study. First, we conducted a systematic literature review to gain a deeper understanding of work patterns, and to find techniques suitable to record employee behaviour in an organisational setting. We proceeded with the search until theoretical saturation was reached. The literature findings were used to design the research method of the study, and ultimately to conclude to what extent our study has confirmed or refuted these findings. Second, we conducted a multiple-case study to record the behaviour of six employees within the Helix Team during the course of 6 working days. We combined three data collection techniques: non-participant observations, screen recording, and archival analysis (timesheet).
The techniques produced 136:04 hours of data and 849 records of activities. We analysed the accuracy, quality, and particularities and shortcomings. We identified 58 differences related to the timestamp, online versus offline activities, short-lived activities, overtime activities, and uncategorised activities. Our study showed that each technique yields unique results, and has its advantages and disadvantages. Due to the shortcomings of the techniques, we have seen that the use of only one technique will not produce a complete and accurate record of the activities that occur on the screen (online), in the hallway (offline), and in the wee hours (overtime). Therefore, it is necessary to combine multiple techniques with different characteristics to be able to (completely and accurately) record employee behaviour and discover work patterns within an organisational context. | |
