Importance of Research
in Management/
Leadership Functions
S
Knowledge is power!
S Conducting thorough research in business is an
excellent strategy to learn more about your market,
employees, customers and competition.
S With that information in hand, you can make
innovative and well-thought-out decisions to help
grow your business.
ü As a leader it is your job to facilitate
change and Research is a tool that will
aid this goal
Defining Business Research
A systematic and organized effort to investigate a specific
problem encountered in the work setting, that needs a
solution.
Business research comprises a series of steps designed
and executed, with the goal of finding answers to the
issues that are of concern to the manager in the work
environment.
Examples of Problems in
Management
S The development of employee attitudes
S Human resources management
S The impact of changing demographics
on leadership practices
S Strategy formulation
S The appropriate usage of power
S The maintaining of work/life balance
S Culture and behaviors
Basic Research
To generate a body of knowledge about
how to solve problems that could be
occurred in organizations. This is called
basic research or fundamental research. It
is also known as pure research.
EXAMPLES of Basic Research
Putting an effort to understand and generate more
knowledge about various aspects of business
operations, such as:
S How to integrate technology into the
overall strategic objectives of an
organization.
S How to increase the productivity of the
employees.
S Which performance appraisal is suitable to
evaluate employees function
These findings later
become useful for
application in business
situations
S
Applied Research
To solve a current problem faced by the
manager in the work setting. Such research
is called applied research.
The Hallmarks of Research
The hallmarks (main distinguishing characteristics) of
scientific research may be listed as follows:
S Purposiveness
S Rigor
S Testability
S Replicability
S Objectivity
S Generalizability
S Parsimony
Advantages of Internal
1. The internal researchers have better chance of being
readily accepted by the employees.
2. The team would require much less time to understand
the structure, the philosophy and climate and work
system of the organization.
3. They would be available for implementing their
recommendations after the research findings are
accepted.
4. The internal team might cost considerable less than
the external team.
Disadvantage of Internal
1. They might have less fresh ideas and perspectives
that might be needed to correct the problems.
2. There is scope for certain powerful groups in the
organization to influence or misrepresent certain facts.
3. There is a possibility that the internal researchers are
not perceived as “experts” by the management, and
hence their recommendations do not get the
consideration and attention they deserve.
4. Certain organizational biases of the internal
research team might make the findings less objective
and less scientific.
Advantage of External
1. They have a wealth of experience from
having worked with different types of
organizations that have had the same or
similar types of problems.
2. They might have more knowledge of current
sophisticated problem-solving models through
their periodic training programs.
Disadvantage of External
1. The cost of hiring an external research team
is usually high.
2. They need a considerable time to understand
the organization to be researched.
3. They seldom get a warm welcome, nor are
accepted by employees.
4. They charges additional fees for their
assistance in the implementation and
evaluation phases.
The Steps in a Research
Broad Problem area
The entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and problem
solving
S Any Currently existing
S Areas requiring improvement
S Issue requiring conceptual clarity
S Validating answers to research
questions empirically.
Secondary Research
S Secondary Research involves The Library is a rich
storage base for
the summary, collation of secondary data
existing research.
S Books
S Managers may draw data S Journals
from published academic S Newspapers/ Magazine
papers, government
S Conference Proceedings
documents, statistical
S Dissertations & Thesis
databases, and historical
record S Government Publications
Literature Review
Literature survey is the documentation of a
comprehensive review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary sources of
data in the areas of specific interest to the
researcher.
** A summary of the collection of secondary
data.
The Literature Outline may
Cover the following:
S The Issue (Define and Explain the issue)
S The Importance of the Issue
S The Reasons for why the Issue occurs
S The categories/ types of the issue (if existing)
S Factors Impacting the Issue positively or negatively
(external/ internal factors)
S Reported Behaviours and Attitudes of Individuals
(employees/managers/ consumers) toward the Issue
After the Literature Review
The researcher is in a position to narrow down the
problem from its original broad base and define the
issues of concern more clearly.
A Problem statement may be defined as:
“A clear, precise and succinct statement of the question or
issue that is to be investigated with the goal of finding an
answer or solution.”
Research Variables
A variable is anything that can take on differing or
varying values.
The values can differ at various times for the same
object or person
The values can differ at the same time for different
objects or persons.
Many Categories of Variables Exist
In this course, 2 types of Variables
will be discussed:
Variables
Independent Dependent Moderating
Variable Variable Variable
The Dependent Variable
The variable of the primary interest to the researcher.
The researcher’s goal is to understand and describe the
dependent variable or to explain its variability or predict it.
It is the core of the research.
Independent Variable
An independent variable is one that influence the dependent variable
in either positive or negative way.
When the IV is present, the DV is also present
And with each unit of increase in the IV, there is an increase or
decrease in the DV also.
The variance in the DV is accounted for by the IV.
Example:
Research studies indicate that successful new
product development has an influence on the
stock market price of the company.
The more successful the new product turns out to
be, the higher will be the stock market price of
that firm.
The Answers
A Moderating Variable
S A moderating variable, also called a moderator
variable, changes the strength or direction of
an effect between two variables x and y.
S In other words, it affects the relationship
between the independent variable and a
dependent variable.
S It is the catalyst to the relationship between
two variables
Answer
Conceptual Framework
A conceptual framework is used in research to
outline possible courses of action or to present a
preferred approach to an idea or thought.
A theoretical structure of assumptions,
principles, and rules that hold together the ideas
compromising a broad concept
Next Step Primary Data
Collection to Test the
Developed Research
Conceptual Framework
