7: Creating Measures

The measuring instrument adopted to evaluate the coherence and pathology of the Chinese State-owned commercial banks is a structured questionnaire that will enable evaluation of staff perceptions, values, and beliefs to be evaluated in order to develop organizational patterning theory. This instrument will enable an organizational pattern to be generated, and provide information about the capacity of the organization to change.

As discussed by Yin (1994), the use of a measuring instrument for our case situation can provide evidence drawn from multiple sources, which include interview, documentation, and direct observation. The approach taken meets the need to focus on turbulent new change in the Chinese State–owned commercial banks. This is a contemporary phenomenon occurring within a real-life context, while ongoing business concerns allow the researcher to exercise little control over the events. The complex nature of the formation and a desire for practitioner relevance give rise to this research concern.