Week 67 (27.7.08)

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Revisit Chapter 2 of Research Methods for Business Students: Formulating and clarifying the research topic.

Important points to note:

• If undertaking a research project as part of a course study, the most important attribute is to meet the examining body's requirements and, in particular, that it is at the correct level. This means that I must choose the topic with care.
• If unsure, I should discuss any uncertainties with my project tutor.
• My research topic must be something I am capable of undertaking and one that excites my imagination.
• A topic in which you are only vaguely interested at the start is likely to become a topic in which you have no interest and with which you will fail to produce your best work.
• Ability to find the financial and time resources to undertake research on the topic will also affect my capability. Some topics are unlikely to be possible to complete in the time allowed by your course of study.
• Finally, it is important to consider your career goals. If you wish to become an expert in a particular subject area or industry sector, it is sensible to use the opportunity to develop this expertise.

Unlearn

Nil, capture more of the learning and quickly put the new learning into perspective and real practise.

Relearn

I drafted an outline proposal and discussed it with my tutor, Mr Chan CS. To my surprise, Mr Chan was sceptical about my idea on the research topic. He thought the research topic was broad and objective not clear. He also thought three months was too short a timescale in which to judge the five drivers that can impact on organizational performance. However, I felt Mr Chan may be right about the 3 months period is insufficient time for me to carry out the project.

I felt dispirited at once, and I agreed to think the matter over and submit a new proposal by end of the week. Nevertheless, I take this as a new challenge and take this new learning by revising Chapter 2 in instilling my confidence. In short time and overnight, I think of a more focus topic that I would be keen to be an expert in developing my career goals. Therefore, i have used this research opportunity to develop one of the skills which i want to learn more ie "Leadership".

I had sent in again my research proposal, and finally it was accepted for me to further undertake. I hope with this research, it will provide fresh insights into the topic for Pfizer and me.

Summary: I felt the two way interactive tutor-student role in guiding throughout this research is very important for the most effective learning process to take place with a good outcome.

Week 66 (20.7.08)

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Research Proposal - Section 6, AMA Module

• Is a plan for conducting the research. Why do research?

1. It allows the researcher to document the logic supporting the various decisions made during the previous stages of the research process. This documentation process can assist the researcher clarify a number of issues in his/her mind.


2. Proposal must justify the investment in the research.


3. Used to persuade other people to support the research, perhaps to obtain approval to proceed with the research.

Format for Research Proposal

1. Research Title


2. Rationale for undertaking the research


3. Research Objective


4. Justification


5. Research design


6. Research schedule


7. Approvals


8. Resources


9. Budget

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NIL

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Thinking through very thoroughly on the research title, rationale, objectives & justification. Weighing what are the potential outcomes and benefits arising from this research to be applied to my MBA assignment for research proposal and project.

Week 65 (13.7.08)

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Research Design - Section 5, AMA Module

• A plan for selecting the sources and types of information used to answer research questions
• A framework for specifying the relationships among the study variables
• A blueprint that outlines each procedure from hypothesis to analysis
• Problem statement --> Purpose of Study (Exploratory/Descriptive/Hypothesis/Case study) --> Study setting (Non contrived/Contrived) -->Unit of analysis (Individuals/Dyads/Groups/Organizations) --> Time dimension (Cross sectional/Longitudinal) --> Operationalisation & Measurement --> Sampling --> Data collection --> Data analysis

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In my MBA assignment:

1. Problem statement: What human capital management (HCM) drivers that can predict organizational performance?
2. Purpose of the study: Descriptive study- to ascertain and be able to describe the characteristics of the variables of interest
3. Study setting: Non contrived - business research is undertaken in the natural environment where work proceeds as normal
4. Unit of analysis - Group
5. Time dimension - Cross sectional study - 4 months from July to October 2008
6. Operationalisation & Measurement - follows Human Capital Capability Scorecard (HCCS) by McBassi. 5 dependent variables operationalize to 24 independent variables
7. Sampling - use the 20-80 rules to represent the population = 30 samples
8. Data collection - questionnaires survey
9. Data analysis - using Microsoft Excel and interpretation of results

Week 64 (6.7.08)

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Framework Development - Section 4, AMA module

• A framework model offers how to make logical sense of the relationships among several factors identified as important to the research
• The framework discusses the inter-relationships among the concepts and/or variables that are deemed to be integral to the dynamics of the situation being investigated
• Developing such a framework helps us to formulate research questions and, perhaps, postulates or hypothesise and test certain relationships so as to improve our understanding of the dynamics of the situation.
• From the framework, then research objectives can be developed to examine whether relationships formulated are valid or not.
• The suggested relationships can thereafter be tested through appropriate analyses.
• Being able to test and replicate the findings will also further convince you of the rigour of your research.
• The framework is then the basis on which the entire research rests.
• The theoretical framework is a logically developed, described and elaborated network of associations among concepts or variables deemed relevant to the problem situation, which have been identified through preliminary information gathering and literature review.
• A concept is an idea expressed as a symbol or in words eg Motivation, Culture, Learning.
• Concepts are obscure and difficult to operationalise and measure.
• A variable is something that can be observed and measured.
• If the researcher operationalise the concepts to variables, a theoretical framework can be formulated. A theoretical framework allows a more precise hypothesing of the relationship between variables.
• Hypothesis : a logically conjectured relationship between two or more variables expressed in the form of a testable statement.
• Null hypothesis : no significant difference between two variables/groups
• Alternate hypothesis: expressing a relationship between two variables/groups

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NIL

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In my MBA assignment, there are 5 measures constitute the dependent variables, they are:

1. quality of leadership practices
2. measures of the learning capacity of the sales division
3. the sales division ability to optimize its workforce productivity
4. practices that foster employee engagement
5. measures of how accessible knowledge is to employees of sales division

The independent variables include 24 factors (within 5 measures) throughout my analysis.

Week 63 (29.6.08)

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Problem Definition - Section 3, AMA Module

• A research problem does not necessarily imply that something is seriously wrong with a current situation which needs to be corrrected immediately.
• It could simply indicate an interest in an issue and a sense that finding the right answers might help to improve an existing situation.
• Thus, it is useful to define a Research Problem as " any situation where a gap exist between the actual and the desired ideal states"
• Ascertain the decision maker's objectives --> Understand background of the problem--> Isolate the problem, not the symptoms --> Determine unit of analysis --> Determine relevant variables --> State research questions and objectives

Unlearn

To really isolate and define the true problem, not the problem definition based on symptoms.

Relearn

In my assignment, i will take up the challenge to identify what are the true problem via employee surveys feedback on human capital management (HCM) vs traditional HR metrics - such as employee turnover rate, average time to fill open positions, and total hours of training provided - don't predict organizational performance. Until recently, there were simply weren't robust methods for measuring the bottom-line contributions of investments in HCM ie leadership, employee engagement, knowledge assessibility, workforce optimization and learning capacity.