Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

an unfavourable economic situation. Cases where information only from one interview
wave was available were either not considered in the typological analysis or I made it
transparent with respective remarks that the information might be unreliable (Table 19 and
23).
The interview guideline was adapted to the time of the interview. It was a thin line
assessing whether the same questions should be posed to each new interview partner, or
whether one could assume a common understanding about certain facts. The first option
bears the risk of irritating the interviewee who might assume that the researcher is asking
the obvious.
The research in Polish firms differed in one marked respect from that in Germany –
in one year, I interviewed personnel managers or other persons in charge of the personnel
policy of the establishment face-to-face and in the other year, I interviewed shop stewards
via phone. 61
4.5. Generalisability of my Results
My study has focused on large enterprises with more than 250 workers. The intention
behind it was to detect HRM strategies and long-term orientated policies. I assumed that
SME apply to a greater extend ad hoc measures in personnel policy when faced with a
concrete problem (Benedix et al. 2007: 41-42) and that they do neither have the personnel
capacity nor financial resources needed to adopt age management strategies, e.g. subsidised
training (Bellmann et al. 2003: 32). My analysis confirmed the size criterion: Polish firms in
my sample were on average smaller than the German ones, and all Polish firms with less
than 500 workers adopted reactive and ´muddling through´ measures when dealing with
age-related problems.
Another criterion for the selection of my firm cases was the share of older workers in
the firm of at least 10 per cent. I assumed that firms with no older workers have no
specified or codified policy of how to deal with them, and that they are generally more
negative towards that group of workers (Brussig 2005: 13; Ipsos 2007: 29). Within my
sample, the age structure of the workforce had no impact upon personnel policy towards
61 The phone interview brought about equally rich material as the personal interviews. The shop stewards were
open and as guarantee of my sincere intentions, only in few cases, the confirmation of my identity by my
former interviewee was demanded.
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