Research and Analysis Methodology
The study involved interviewing the employees directly involved
in the implementation of the change process and the
new services in the company, in order to be able to conduct
an analysis of the experience of key-personnel with respect
to the different phases as outlined in section 3. In particular,
the sample group consisted of the company’s Chief Executive
Officer (CEO), General Directors and members of the
project team. A limited sampling logic was applied in order
to focus on the staff that experienced intimately the migration
process to the new electronic services. This group of
people was responsible for the preparation and implementation
of the project, as well as for the training and education
of the rest of the associated with the project airline’s staff.
Moreover, this limitation was necessary due to the fact that
in case more employees of the company were studied, then
the uncertainty of the results would probably be increased
due to the expected diversity of responses (sharing of the
same view, situational awareness, etc.).
The research followed a qualitative pattern, in which validity
is replaced by the concept of transferability, in terms of the
ability of the research outputs capability to transfer situations
with similar parameters, populations and characteristics.
This research has a significant degree of transferability,
which is supported through careful transcription, thorough
and systematic analysis of the data and information about
the theoretical context which was used to generate and
analyze the data. The data were collected through a semistructured
interview scheme (narrative) because the aim
was to discover the different ways individuals experienced
the various phases of the migration project, as well as the
way they realized their role and contribution within the particular
context and situations. As narrative is experiential, it
can provide a description of tacitly held personal knowledge
without abandoning the particular, the contextual, and the
complex (Conle, 2000).
The interview questions were designed upon the basis of
the change management phases proposed by Kotter while
additional questions were added to seek for the employees
view and feelings about the outsourcing choice (decision,
performance, etc.). The interview questions were piloted
with a set of participants, which allowed for some revisions
and improvements for the final set of the interviewed staff.
Based on this research methodology, the responses received
by the interviewed staff can be considered as snapshots of
their understanding at the particular time-space domain
while the magnitude of influence from the socio-cultural milieux
is not completely clear (Conle, 2000). It is also noted
that the interpretation of the events that took place in the
change process are culturally bound and, therefore, the understanding
of people differs for the different groups in the