Organization Given How Turbulent and Uncertain Nearly

¶ … Organization

Given how turbulent and uncertain nearly every industry is today every organization is engaging in several different forms of research to lessen risk and gain in greater insights into potential opportunities. Many are researching their competitors at varying levels, from the cursory review of their website to the more in-depth reverse engineering of their products and unethical access to their pricing, customer bases and weaknesses in sales cycles (Mulki, Jaramillo, 2011). Across the many methodologies used for completing research that encompass primary and secondary research approaches, there is the common need of ensuring a very high level of ethicacy and transparency as well (Zabriskie, Huellmantel, 1994). Many times business managers and owners forget that the results of their research, if done to just support a point or position, is actually worthless on all counts and only serves to further confuse and potentially cost a company valuable time and financial resources. Nowhere is the benefit of being ethical more evident than in how research is conducted, used and evaluated than in an organization. Correspondingly, the unethical use of research and methodologies deliberately designed to deliver exactly what someone wants to hear are not only a waste of time, they confuse and pollute an organization's entire culture as well (Zabriskie, Huellmantel, 1994).

Research in Organizations

The general research principles used throughout organization is often dictated by the urgency of information needs its relative level of complexity, suitability of secondary data to solve the issue or answer the question, and the time horizon that the company is dealing with to make decisions based on the analysis. Of all these factors, time and cost constraints are often the most critical criterion that dictate which general research principles are used or not. For many companies the time and cost constraints force them to rely on secondary research, or those studies already published by research firms that are available for purchase (Holmes, Reid, 1995). The advantages of using published research are its availability, speed at which it can be obtained, and the contextual expertise it can provide for a company immersed in an industry that the study covers. The drawbacks or disadvantages of secondary research is that it can often be only partially relevant to a complex problem a company is attempting to solve. It is also often designed with a methodology that may have been highly relevant for a given purpose., yet the company may have a different set of unmet needs and requirements (Holmes, Reid, 1995).

When the information needs are so complex and specific to a given need within a business, companies are increasingly turning to Web-based surveys to quickly and cost-effectively gather the information they need (Burkey, Kuechler, 2003). Web-based surveys also have in-built analytics and statistical analysis applications that give researchers the ability to quickly tabulate, analyze and present results of their surveys. Combined with the cost savings of doing surveys online where all that is needed is an e-mail address, Web-based surveys' very rapid approach to delivering results is making them a favorite for quickly gaining insights into very complex questions and problem areas companies are grappling with (Burkey, Kuechler, 2003). SurveyMonkey.com, Zoomerang and several others have free accounts that can be used for quickly getting up and running and completing studies within days provided there are e-mail addresses available.

Ethics in market research have also never been more complex and critical to the success fo so many companies. The tendency, given so many technologies and tools available, is to slide or push the results of a survey in the direction of what decision makers want to substantiate their take on the decision. The ethicacy of research has never been more critical to the success of companies as the time to react and capitalize on trends and avert competitive pressure has never been greater (Mulki, Jaramillo, 2011). The ethicacy of research is today overshadowed by the urgency of getting studies right the first time and keeping a company in business. The ethicacy of research also concentrates on how respondents are included in any methodology and how the goals of the study are disclosed to them as well. Ethicacy in how the studies are defined and executed will have a major impact on the quality of the results as well; so in essence strong ethics will deliver useful research. The converse is also true. Concentrating on creating a methodology that is ethically sound and executed will deliver the information and intelligence needed to drive greater quality and effective decisions. The ethicacy of research in each stage of a project needs to concentrate on creating a solid platform for decision making, without tarnishing it with bias by telling respondents why the study is going on, or slanting the analysis to meet a specific agenda. The analysis of a survey project needs to be more focused on statistical reliability and replication of results across the population of the respondent base or customer segment. There also needs to be an orientation towards consistency of sampling frame, questionnaire construction, and the reasonable conclusions based on analysis. All of these factors need to be taken into account when designing a research project to reflect a high degree of ethicacy and meet the needs of a company for information.