COMMERCE7039 - Telstra Labor Cutoffs & Performance: Research

This research brief investigates the impact of planned labor cutoffs at Telstra, a major Australian telecommunications company, on its overall performance. It begins by outlining the research problem, stemming from Telstra's plan to cut 8000 jobs to reduce costs, and explores the potential negative consequences on service quality and employee morale. The literature review examines employment trends in Australia, highlighting the rise of part-time employment and labor underutilization. The research objectives include examining Telstra's recruitment process, financial condition, and the impact of financial instability on performance, with a focus on job security. The proposed methodology employs a positivism philosophy and an exploratory research design, using a deductive approach to analyze both primary (surveys and interviews) and secondary data. The research adheres to ethical guidelines, including data protection, and outlines a detailed action plan and budget. The aim is to provide recommendations for improving job security while maintaining Telstra's financial stability.

Running head: RESEARCH BRIEF
Proposal on “The impact of labor cut offs on the overall performance of Telstra, Australia
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Research problem.......................................................................................................................2
Literature review........................................................................................................................2
Research objectives and questions.............................................................................................5
Research questions.....................................................................................................................5
Research thesis...........................................................................................................................5
Methodology..............................................................................................................................6
Research philosophy..............................................................................................................6
Research design......................................................................................................................6
Research approach.................................................................................................................7
Data collection.......................................................................................................................7
Data analysis..........................................................................................................................7
Sample size.............................................................................................................................8
Research ethics.......................................................................................................................8
Reliability and validity...........................................................................................................9
Action plan.............................................................................................................................9
Budget..................................................................................................................................11
References............................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Founded in 1 July 1945, Telstra is one of the biggest Telecom operators in Australia.
As a matter of specification, it deals with the provision of mobile, internet access, television
and other services. It is one of the ASX listed companies with the headquarters in Melbourne,
Australia. According to the annual reports of 2017, the total revenue is 2600 crores AUD.
The major drive behind this is the hard efforts of 32000 employees (Telstra.com.au, 2018). Its
subsidiaries are Foxtel, Pacnet, and Ooyala among others. The company operates in and
around Australia with the focus on the expanding the scope and arena of the customer
relationship.
Research problem
Recently, Telstra has announced the plan of cutting 8000 jobs. This is in terms of
coping up with the increasing cost of the services. At this point, the objective of reducing the
costs by 2.5 billion Australian dollars by 2022 seems appropriate. On the other hand, the
staffs need to provide equal attention to the security of the employment of the staffs. One of
the other objectives is the plan for selling off the assets for coping up with the debt
(Telstra.com.au, 2018). On one hand, these plans are appropriate in terms of stabilizing the
financial parameter. On the other hand, these plans can deprive the clients and the customers
of quality telecommunication facilities. The employment of the staffs are at stake, as there are
plans for eliminating the jobs of the executive and managers of the middle level. Negligence
towards strategic approach would adversely affect employee performance. Making plans
without assessing its feasibility might prove harmful for both the employees and the
management of Telstra as a whole. The managers need to consider effective theories and
models for resolving the issue. Identifying the capability of the managers to achieve effective
solutions would be the main focus of the research.

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Action plan
Action plan helps in systematizing the research related activities according to their
priorities. The tabular format of the plan enhances the awareness regarding the weeks by
which the activities need to be completed (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). This is applicable for
all of researches. Preparing action plan would assist the Telstra staffs to systematize the
business activities. The following action plan can be of great help:
Activities Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Meeting for
identification
of main issue
Developing
aims and
objectives
Collecting data
on how to
solve the issues
Market
research for
gaining insight
into the latest
trends of the
contemporary
brands

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Developing
policies
Evaluation
Customer
feedback and
survey
Implementing
the policies
Evaluating the
effectiveness
of the
implementatio
n process
Making the
necessary
changes
Final round
evaluation
Final
submission and
closure
Literature review
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the employment growth was
positive, however, in the last phases it was weaker. This was due to the emergence of part

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time employment, which proved difficult for the companies in terms of labor maintenance.
With the rise in the working hours, the employees are encountered dilemma in continuing
their jobs (Hartley, 2017). This brought significant reduction in the unemployment levels, a
positive sign for the companies in terms of completing the projects. As a matter of
specification, employment rate increased by 19800 (0.2%). Of these, full time increased 6100
and part time increased 13700.
Figure: Employment growth rate
(Source: Hanaysha, 2016)
Under such scenario, plans regarding job cut offs contradict the aspect of professional
growth. Employees are recruited, so that teamwork would enhance the productivity. Plans
regarding the job cut offs are examples of reasoned action in terms of coping up with the
financial instabilities. Along with this, it is also a planned action in terms of retaining the
customers into the services. Job cut offs can also be considered as “labor underutilization”, as

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the staffs are eliminated from their posts. This demoralizes the staffs, necessitating the need
for motivation. According to the report of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total labor
underutilization rate was 13.6% (Abs.gov.au, 2018).
Figure 2: Unemployment rate of Australia
(Source: Abs.gov.au, 2018)
Currently, technology is one of the tools, which has radically altered the nature of jobs
within the telecommunication industry in Australia. However, plans regarding dividing the
infrastructural operations into separate units has adversely affected the aspect of customer
satisfaction. The CEO of the companies under telecommunication industries feel that not
being active in the transaction process aggravates the risks within the business. Collapse in
the stock prices has made significant contributions in reduction of the market prices. This
reflects the instabilities in the financial parameter. Restructuring requires additional financial
resources, which strains the economy (Duval & Furceri, 2018).
Sudden rise in the full time employment has declined the job employment rate in
Australia. As a matter of specification, the reduction rate was 5.5%, compelling the critics to
lose in their statements, for whom the collapse rate of the jobs was 5.7%. The critics were of

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the view that creation of the jobs would add momentum to employment. With this, both the
consumers and the business are affected. The Reserve bank is exposing disinterest in terms of
lifting up the rates. However, they point to the possibility of taking off the rate cuts from the
tables, charts and graphs (Wadhwa & Tripathi, 2018).
The plans regarding the job cut offs reduces the value of the Australian dollar, which
boosted up to 76.30 US cents.
Research objectives and questions
Based on the current situation, the following objectives can be developed:
 To examine the recruitment and selection process followed in Telsta
 To study the financial condition of Telstra
 To assess the impact of the financial instability in the overall performance of Telstra
 To suggest recommendations for improving job security of the employees at Telstra
Research questions
 What methods are followed by Telstra for recruiting the staffs?
 What is the current financial condition of Telstra in the competitive market?
 How does the financial instability affect the overall performance of Telstra~
 What recommendations can be suggested for providing job security to the staffs at
Telstra?
Research thesis
Based on the objectives and questions, the thesis statement of the research proposal
would be assessing the impact of the job cut offs on the overall performance of Telstra,
Australia.

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Methodology
Research philosophy
The research conducts a research with adherence to one particular philosophy.
Usually, in a research, there are three kinds of philosophies, which assists the researcher to
philosophize the facts. As a matter of specification, these philosophies are positivism, post-
positivism and interpretivism. Positivism philosophy helps in the establishment of the real
and scientific knowledge about the subject matter of the research (Mackey and Gass, 2015).
Post-positivism studies the cause and effect of establishing the knowledge. Interpretivism
philosophy deals with interpreting new facts ad theories related to the scientific and objective
facts established. Persons intending to conduct research regarding the impact of job cuts on
the overall performance of Telstra, would take the assistance of positivism philosophy.
Selecting positivism philosophy would assist in the establishment of scientific facts relevant
to employee performance.
Research design
Every researcher is bound to follow an integrated design for conducting a research.
This is in terms of deducing conclusions and recommendations efficiently and effectively.
Explorative, explanatory and descriptive are the three main designs, which assists the
researcher to design the research properly (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). Exploratory
design relates to the exploration of the unknown facts related to the subject matter of the
research. Explanatory design requires explanation of every minute details related with the
research topic. Descriptive design possesses similarity with explanatory design. This is in
terms of the functionality it performs within the research. In this research, the researcher
would select the explorative design for exploring the unexplored realms of employment job
cuts and their impact on the overall productivity.

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Research approach
When a researcher starts a research, he possesses a particular approach towards the
completion. Specifically, there are two kinds of research approach-inductive and deductive.
Inductive approach means inducing new facts and theories related to the subject matter,
which have not been proposed earlier in the previous research (Brannen, 2017). On the other
hand, deductive approach relates to deducing relevant conclusions from the gathered facts
related to the subject matter. Inductive approach is time consuming, as it needs elaborate
research. Therefore, the researcher would select deductive approach for deducing relevant
conclusions regarding job cuts and their impact on the overall performance of Telstra.
Data collection
Collecting data helps in making efficient and effective propositions related to the
research topic. Data can be collected through primary and secondary, which further has
subdivisions-quantitative and qualitative. In the primary quantitative, survey is conducted on
the selected samples. This can be telephonic, interviews, Skype conversations, video
conferencing and others (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). In the primary qualitative, interviews
are conducted on the managers of company, which is the main focus in the research. In
secondary method, data is collected from the journal articles and websites. In this research,
the relevant data would be collected through both the primary and the secondary methods.
Surveys would be conducted on the samples and the managers would be interviewed.
Data analysis
The collected data needs to be analysed for deducing relevant recommendations.
Primary and secondary methods assist the researcher to analyse the collected data. These
methods have subdivisions- primary and secondary. In the primary method, the data is
analysed through the preparation of questionnaires. The responses of the samples are

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projected through the means of charts, graphs and tables (Barnham, 2015). Graphical
representation of the responses prove beneficial in deducing relevant conclusions. The
researcher would analyse the collected data through the development of relevant themes in
the secondary method. Quantitative method would be selected for the analysing the responses
of the samples. This is in terms of assessing the approaches of the staffs regarding the job cut
offs.
Sample size
The whole population is directly or indirectly are the samples for the research.
However, in order to cope up with the time and the financial constraints, the researcher needs
to select a particular sample size. This is done through three techniques- simple, random and
probability. Simple and random techniques relate to the sample selection without any
calculations (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2017). On the other hand, the probability sample
technique involves selection of the samples with calculations and tests regarding efficiency
and sound knowledge of the subject matter. In this research, the researcher would select the
probability sampling technique for selecting the samples. This is necessary in terms of
gaining an insight into the approaches of 50 employees of Telstra, whose jobs would be
eliminated.
Research ethics
A researcher is bound to maintain ethics in the research related activities.
Consciousness in this direction is assistance in terms of gaining the trust, loyalty and
dependence of the readers. In this research, the researcher would implement Data Protection
Act (1998) for maintaining the safety and privacy of the responses given by the readers
(Ormston et al., 2014). In this stage, the researcher is also conscious towards assuring the
respondents that their responses would be solely used for the research purpose rather than for
the purpose of commercialization. Along with this, the researcher would expose a liberal