ASSIGNMENT
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this report is to provide students with an opportunity to apply business research methods to a specific HR business issue.
You will be responsible for a written research proposal to pitch your recommendation on how to deliver a quality business research effort to help Company "Media Web" with a specific HR business issue.
EACH REPORT SHOULD BE A MAXIMUM OF 10 PAGES DOUBLE-SPACED (before appendices, table of contents, bibliography, etc.)
You will be required to pick and work on one business scenario. This selection should be made from the two options outlined below in the Background section.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Careful thought should be given to your selection of the HR business issue
Background
You are to consider yourself and independent consultant, hired by fictional company "Media Web." Media Web is a fictional private company headquartered in Toronto. Media Web is the world's largest online developer of phone applications, and websites in the world. They have developed over 5000 phone apps, including the number one best selling game of all time, Happy Fish. The company hires people from around the world, and globally has over 3000 non-unionized employees. Of these employees, 2000 are based in Toronto and Ottawa, and the other thousand work remotely around the world in virtual based teams.
The company's HR department is centralized in the Toronto office, and consists of 50 people. The HR department undertakes HR operations, compensation and benefits, recruitment and selection, training and development, as well as occupational health and safety functions for the company.
The VP of HR is currently concerned with two business related issues at Media Web. The VP knows that some further investigation and research is going to be required to get a better understanding of the underlying issues and potential solution to any problems. The VP will need assistance with this, and is interested in getting proposals from outside research consultants. Each consultant will need to prepare a proposal on what research actions they recommend should be conducted to get a better understanding of the business problem's nature and scope. This proposal is only to provide a recommendation of a research approach and a proposed research process, not to actually conduct the research. Although it should be said, that if the VP is satisfied with the research proposal, it is likely that the VP would award the work to conduct the research to the winning consultant. Therefore, it is in the best business interests of the consultant to provide a well-written, and comprehensive research plan and proposal to the VP.
Each student will need to act as a business research consultant. Each individual will need to prepare a research proposal as a report deliverable to the Vice-President of Human Resources at Media Web. Each individual is to select ONLY ONE business scenario to work on.
The two scenarios from which to pick from is listed below:
HR Business Issue A - Recruiting
Company Media Web is interested in improving its recruiting efforts among college students. To do so, the company believes it needs to identify specific interests and criteria that college students use in their job search. Specifically Media Web would like to learn more about the following:
a) What criteria do college students use to identify prospective employers for whom they would like to work for?
b) What criteria do they use to ultimately prioritize and select any prospective job offers?
This type of information would assist the company in updating its recruitment activities to better tailor to college students and graduates. Changes to the recruitment approach using this new information would allow Company Media Web to attract more talented and qualified college applicants. What research approach would you recommend to the VP of HR to help investigate this business scenario?
HR Business Issue B - Training and Development
Company Media Web is unsure as to whether its existing management training program is effective in training its managers and preparing them for future progression. There has been evidence recently that many of the company's managers have not been well prepared to handle several important and difficult business situations. The VP of HR is interested in learning more about the following:
a) What the company's managers think of the effectiveness of the existing management training program, specifically in terms of preparing them to handle business situations and prepare them for progression to more senior roles and assignments?
b) What suggestions could be made for the improvement of the existing program to make it more effective and successful?
Collection of this type of information will allow the VP to request updates of the training program to make it more effective for all involved.
What research approach would you recommend to the VP of HR to help investigate this business scenario?
REQUIRED FORMAT FOR REPORT
Title Page
• Subject, course code, section code, professor name, and date the report is prepared.
• Who prepared the report
Table of Contents
• Key body elements should be noted with page numbers
• Appendices (all information should be clearly cross-referenced in the body of the written report) should be clearly outlined with page references.
• Bibliography
• If numerous charts, graphs and tables are included, it is desirable to include a list of these immediately following the table of contents
Executive Summary
- Should be approximately 1 page (double spaced) in length.
- Inclusion of a clear and concise executive summary to serve as an introduction to the reader of the proposal document
- Needs to provide a high level summary of the research approach that will be detailed in the report
- Needs to provide a good "sales pitch" to the reader to draw interest to the rest of the report, and in your skills as researchers and proposal writers.
Problem Definition and Research Objectives
- Should consist of a 1 to 2 double page overview of your proposed problem definition and research objectives. These need to relate directly to the business issue you have selected to work on. This should include:
o Clearly defined problem definition
o Definition of your research objectives and purpose
o Listing of any assumptions that you will take into account as a base for your research proposal
Proposed Research Process and Methodology
• Should consist of a 1 to 2 double spaced page overview of your recommended process and plan to conduct the research. This should include:
o Description of proposed research design and methodology for undertaking research into your chosen business issue
o Outline of the rationale for your chosen research methodology
Why do you think your chosen approach is the best way to proceed with the research into your chosen business issue
Proposed Sample Population and Plan
o Should consist of a 2 to 3 double spaced page overview of your recommended process and plan to conduct the research. This should include:
Description of proposed sampling approach including any assumptions that you will need to make plus an action plan to overcome and avoid any assumed potential difficulties
Proposed sample population
• Describe your target audience.
• Who will you collect data from?
• How many individuals will comprise your sample population?
Outline of the rationale for your choice of sample population
• Why is your recommended sample right for your proposed research?
• What makes your sample a good representation of the total population?
• How will this sample enable you to obtain your research data?
Outline of a sample plan
• Clearly spell out your proposed plan to select your sample and how you will collect data from this sample
• Outline how your sample plan relates to the questions of who/how/when/where?
Outline of the rationale for your sample plan
• Outline why you think your plan will be most effective in identifying your sample individuals, and how it will enable you to collect the data you need.
Proposed Example/Draft Materials
• Should consist of a 2 to 3 double spaced page overview of your proposed process for data collection with an inclusion of example or draft materials to indicate what these data collection devices will look like. This should include:
o Identification of proposed data collection techniques to be followed using the sample/draft material
o Rationale for selection of your chosen data collection devices and approach
Why did you choose your specific data collection approach
How will this help you obtain the information you hope and need to collect?
o Preparation of, and inclusion, of example/draft research material and data collection forms (e.g. surveys, interview questions, etc.)
o Inclusion of explanation of, and rationale for, the use of these example/draft forms.
Summary and Recommendations
- Should be approximately 1 page (double spaced) in length.
- Inclusion of a clear and concise summary of the research proposal.
- Clear outline of how proposed research approach is to meet the stated research objectives and purpose
- Inclusion of "sale pitch" as to why your proposal should be selected for action