Table of Contents

A Career Service Centre plays a major role in handling student queries at higher education institutes; which includes guiding and providing them with necessary information to select their career path (Sampson et al, 2003). The research identified that Career Service Centres prepare students to compete for the best career opportunities. Career Service Centres are being maintained by many universities around the globe including Qatar University, in order to cater to this particular requirement. These Career Service Centres provide career advice, training, counselling services as well as employment etc. for students. Therefore, the Career Service Centres need to be employed by individuals who are keen on communicating with students and have good people skills in general (Brown, 2002). Moreover, they need to be familiar with the course content and modules taught in the classroom as what students have learned is what will be directing them towards their future career options (Krieshok, 2001). However, the author does not mention that CSC employees need to have the qualifications or background of the same subject areas. Furthermore, author argues that good analytical and communication skills are essential to survive in this service oriented career.

1.1 Nature of the Problem

This research thoroughly reviews previous literature on Career Service Centres and its performances in order to analyse how the Career Service Centre (CSC) at Qatar University can enhance the quality of its services to motivate students to visit and enjoy its benefits. The CSC at Qatar University is suffering from a shortage of skilled employees to handle student queries which results in, delaying in handling student matters. Furthermore, CSC at Qatar University is using emails as its primary communication channel which can be identified as inefficient and unpopular among the younger, tech-savvy generation. This also directly affects student perspectives on using the Career Service Centre. This research aims at evaluating these social factors, in order to find sensible and practical solutions that can be adopted by Qatar University to enhance the overall performance of its CSC.

1.2 Stakeholders

Former, current and possible future employees of CSC and Qatar University students who seek advice from CSC can be identified as stakeholders who are involved in this problem. Apart from these two parties; the management of Qatar University can be recognised as one of the key stakeholders who are involved in this problem and will benefit from this research to find solutions and implement a strategy to tackle the problems in an effective and efficient manner.

1.3 The Problem Statement

The quality of the services and effective communication are key elements to run an efficient Career Service Centre at Qatar University. However, the Career Service Centre at Qatar University has a shortage of skilled employees which causes delays in handling student queries. Furthermore, its current primary communication channel is emails; which according to numerous researches unpopular and ineffective among the youth and has a directly impact on students using the CSC. This research aims at finding practical solutions that can be adopted by Qatar University to encourage students to visit the CSC and use its services, minimising delays and errors while handling student queries and finally, enhancing the overall performance and quality of services offered by the Career Service Centre at Qatar University.

2. Research Aim

The aim of this research is to propose the most suitable communication channel for the CSC at Qatar University and implement it by the year 2020. Furthermore, it aims at taking measures to maintain a pool of skilled employees to run the Career Service Centre at Qatar University from year 2020.

3. Research Questions

· Who are the main stakeholders involved in the problem?

o Who can benefit from the solutions?

The research aims at analysing the parties involved in the problem to identify which areas need to be improved.

· What are the key issues faced by CSC at Qatar University?

o What are students’ complaints about CSC?

Surveys, questionnaires will provide an accurate measure of student dissatisfaction towards CSC at Qatar University.

o What are the complaints made by employees about CSC?

Surveys, questionnaires will provide an accurate measure of employee dissatisfaction towards CSC at Qatar University

· What is the best communication channel for CSC at Qatar University?

o What are the issues in the current method of communication?

The research aims at evaluating flaws of the current communication method and why it is not compatible with current needs.

o What are the suggestions made by each stakeholder about adopting a new communication channel?

The research aims at analysing suggestions made by each stakeholder involved in the problem about implementing a new communication method.

o What is the most suitable new communication method for CSC?

Survey questionnaire will provide information regarding the most preferred communication method by each stakeholder involved in the problem, and reasons for their preference.

4. Research Design

The research design portrays a basic model on how the research will be carried out in a logical format (Stichler, 2016). The author states that the research design helps in having a clear-cut understanding of how the research methodology needs to be followed. There are two types of basic research approaches; deductive approach and inductive approach (Tossavainen, 2016). The deductive approach requires collecting information based on a pre-determined hypothesis and it is focused on quantitative research. However, inductive research approach is based on qualitative research. There are various types of research designs. The most common research designs can be identified as; experimental research, survey research, case study and literature review.

In this research, the research problem is to identify and provide solutions to the shortage of employees at CSC and find a suitable communication channel. Therefore, the best research approach will be deductive method which requires the initial process of developing a hypothesis and then finding adequate information to support the hypothesis. Nevertheless, both qualitative and quantitative data will be used in this research. Furthermore, the research will be presented as a case study and a survey where the questionnaire is developed by the researcher, will be distributed among students at Qatar University to collect the necessary data for this research.

5. Data Collection Methods and Techniques

Two out of three basic stakeholders will participate in answering the questionnaire; former and current employees of CSC and students. The management of Qatar University will benefit from the research by remaining as a silent observer. Each party will be given a set of questions. The sample size will be a minimum of 20 from each category of stakeholders, as it balances the saturation level and provides a proper foundation for the analysis (Elsevier, 2004).

5.1 Former and Current Employees

Data collected from this category of stakeholders will allow the researcher to analyse the level of job satisfaction and the nature of tasks they carried out / are carrying on at the CSC; via questions such as the amount of work load, nature of the leadership provided and also their future career expectations etc.

5.2 Qatar University Students

It can be identified that students are reluctant to use the current primary communication channel emails; which results in poor participation in the CSC activities. Therefore, the questionnaire must be aimed at analysing the best and preferable communication method among student. This can be face-to-face meetings, group discussions, telephone calls, video conferencing or even alternative methods such as text messaging, a dedicated CSC mobile app, a desktop application or a virtual Career Service Centre depending on the level of student convenience.

6. Data Analysis

Numeric data collected via survey questionnaire will be adapted according to Alhammadi et al. (2016) where after categorising data, quantitative analysis will be carried out to identify what type of communication channel would be suitable for CSC at Qatar University, and what are the most suitable and practical solutions for the shortage of skilled employees at CSC. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be used for this research and quantitative data will be uploaded to SPSS software to obtain an accurate statistical output. The data will be portrayed via tools such as pie charts, bar charts and tables etc. Secondary data collected via existing literature will support the SPSS output.

7. Schedule

			January			February				March
Task / Activity		Week				Week				Week
	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4

Collecting data
Preparing research proposal
Conducting survey
Processing and verifying data
Writing the report
Reviewing
Preparing the final report

8. Organisation

According to the table above, data collection will be started in January 2017. As this consists of activities such as preparing and distributing the questionnaire; the process will continue until mid-February, 2017. In the meantime, collected data will be validated using SPSS. Based on the processed data; the research report will be written and the research conclusion will be obtained in order to solve employee shortage issue as well as to choose a suitable communication channel for CSC at Qatar University. The tutor’s supervision and input is essential at this stage to make sure that the collected data; both qualitative and quantitative address the problem. The finalisation of the report will take place on the third week of March enabling decision making and planning implementation strategies on the same month. The tutor will need to help in finalising the report and suggest amendments and/or improvements to optimise the outcome of this research.

9. Budget

Area	Budget (GBP)
Initial cost of research	£250
Strategy planning (Consultancy Fee)	£250
Purchasing of communication equipments	£2,000
Hiring, training and staff development Implementation of the new communication mode	£1,000 £250
Total Budget	£3,750

10. Literature and Bibliography

The choice of using the journal 'Data collection and sample characteristics' by Elsevier which was published in 2004 for this report, justifies the generalisation rule that requires in an unbiased research. The context of the journal describes the main characteristics of a research in general.

Brown's book 'Career choice and development' provides information on career development as well as tasks and responsibilities of a Career Service Centre. It describes the theoretical components of the research topic while supporting the arguments mentioned in other journals such as Krieshok's 'How the Decision-Making Literature Might Inform Career Center Practice', which was initially published back in 2001. All the other journals, research reports and books used in this report improve its validity as well as reliability of content and justify the research topic.

References

Alhammadi, Y., Algahtany, M., Kashiwagi, D., Sullivan, K., and Kashiwagi, J. (2016), The current state of research and development approach (R&D) in the Saudi construction industry, Procedia Engineering, 145, pp. 1462–1469.

Brown, D. (ed.) (2002), Career choice and development, 4th Edition, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc., U.S.

Elsevier, B. (2004) ‘Data collection and sample characteristics’, Australian Emergency Nursing Journal, 6(2), p.

Krieshok, T. (2001), How the Decision-Making Literature Might Inform Career Center Practice, Journal of Career Development, 27(3), pp. 207-216.

Sampson, J. P., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., and Sampson Jr, J. P. (2003), Career counseling and services: A cognitive information processing approach, Wadsworth Publishing Co.

Stichler, J. F. (2016), Research, research-informed design, evidence-based design: What is the difference and does it matter?, HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 10(1), pp. 7–12.

Tossavainen, P. J. (2016), Co-create with stakeholders: Action research approach in service development, Action Research.

11. Appendices

Appendix A: Questionnaire

Please fill this questionnaire with genuine and accurate information. Your responses will not be shared with any third party and will be used only for the academic purpose of my research.

1. Age

20 -25 years

26 - 35 years

6 – 50 years

Above 50 years

2. Gender

Male

Female

3. I identify myself as

A current/former CSC employee

A student at Qatar University

Other (Please mention)

Answer only if you are a student at Qatar University

4. Have you been to / used the CSC at Qatar University in the past three months

Yes

5. The performance of the CSC is satisfactory.

Yes

Briefly explain your experience with CSC.

7. Rate your level of satisfaction on the performance of CSC at Qatar University.

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Not Satisfied nor Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Very Dissatisfied

8. What makes you want or not want to use the CSC at Qatar University?

9. Are you satisfied with the current primary communication channel used by CSC? If you answered no, please give reasons.

Yes

10. How do you feel about CSC at Qatar University adopting a new communication channel?

Good

Bad

Neutral

11. What is your preferred communication method?

Text messages

A dedicated mobile app

Telephone calls

Video conferencing

Virtual CSC

Face-to-face meetings

12. Do you think the number of employees working at CSC is enough to handle your queries?

Yes

13. How can CSC improve its services and performance?

14. Do you have any complaints about CSC? (If yes, please state)

15. For what purposes, have you used / hoping to use the CSC facility at Qatar University?

16. What are factors that causing dissatisfaction when using the CSC at Qatar University?

17. What are the factors that attract you to use the CSC facility at Qatar University?

……………

18. How frequently do you log in to check your emails?

On a daily basis

Not everyday

All the time

19. What skills do you think the employees should have and / or need to improve in order to work at CSC?

20. Do you find the CSC at Qatar University to be helpful?

Yes

Answer only if you are a current / former CSC employee at Qatar University

1. Do you think the number of employees working at CSC is enough to handle student queries?

Yes

2. How can CSC improve its services and performance?

3. How do you feel about CSC at Qatar University adopting a new communication channel?

Good

Bad

Neutral

4. Are / were you satisfied with your job?

5. Have you ever made any complaints about CSC during your employment?

Yes

6. Describe the nature of tasks they carried out / are carrying on at the CSC.

7. I identify the work load to be

Too much

Reasonable

8. Describe the nature of leadership provided by the administration / management.

9. I’m satisfied with my remuneration package.

Yes

10. What makes you want or not want to work for CSC at Qatar University?

11. What are your future career expectations?

12.