Critical examination of the experiences, perceptions and outcomes of the manager and employee one to one process in a large global clinical research organisation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences, perceptions and outcomes of the one to one manager employee meeting process in a large clinical research organisation such as ICON Plc. In this regard, the researcher sought to explore the following research objectives: i) What are some of the influences and components of a one to one process in successful performance management systems ii) What are the challenges and barriers currently facing managers and employees during the one to one process at ICON and iii) What changes / additions could be applied to the one to one process to make overall improvements. The study sought to make recommendations based on the answers extracted through primary and secondary research to the questions and objectives proposed above. For these research objectives to be adequately met a thorough literature review was conducted to capture secondary qualitative data. This data was used to inform in depth interviews which were conducted to capture primary qualitative data. In turn, this data was used to inform a questionnaire which was used to conduct a census of all line managers within the ICON laboratory services (ILS) service line capturing primary quantitative data. Having three sources of data allowed the triangulation of data captured to fulfil the three main objectives of this dissertation. It was shown that for majority of managers within ILS, they have a very strong handle on the one on one process and have a robust system in place for one on ones. When comparing the quantitative data and qualitative data with the literature review, it would seem that ICON line managers are on point and in keeping with the subject matter experts and published literature. However, there were also challenges and barriers also which lead to recommendations and improvements noted in the discussion and conclusion of this dissertation.