Business Research Methods (5529)

Course: Business Research Methods (5529) ASSIGNMENT NO.1

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS (5529) ASSIGNMENT No.1

Q. 1     You are manager of the division of a major corporation, supervising five animal-feed plants scattered over four provinces. Corporate headquarters asks you to conduct an investigation to determine whether any of these plants should be closed, expanded, moved, or reduced. Is there a possible conflict between your roles as an investigator and manager? Explain.                                                          (20)

Q. 2     In your company’s management-development program, there was a heated discussion between some people who claimed “theory is impractical and thus no good” and others who claimed “good theory is the most practical approach to problems.” What position would you take and why? (20)

Q. 3     What are some of the important reasons a research project will fail to make an adequate contribution to the solution of management problems?                                                           (20)

Q. 4     The Vice President of administration calls you into her office and states that the computer programming department is not functioning well because there is excessive turnover among the programmers. She suggests you conduct a survey among other major companies in the region to learn how they handle the problem of high programmer turnover.

            (a)     What do you think of this problem assessment and research suggestions?

            (b)     How, if at all, could you improve on the vice president’s formulation of the research problem?           (20)

Q. 5     Discuss the problems of trading off exploration and pilot testing under tight budgetary constraints. What are the immediate and long-term effects?                                                             (20)