...Session 3A: THE CASESTUDY ANALYSIS MODEL: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS MODEL Introduction The case studies we use are products that are written and produced by researchers who carry out an extensive analysis of a particular company and conduct in-depth interviews with its key players. Case studies provide a snapshot of a particular set of circumstances in an organization within a particular time frame. They provideus with an integrated look at both qualitative information and quantitative data about those circumstances. They also outline the various perspectives, thoughts and actions of the different managers in the case. We use these case studies in the classroom as a vehicle for practicing and fine-tuning your own managerial skills of problem analysis, decision making and solution development and implementation. Case studies provide a vehicle through which you can apply thetheoretical ideas, theories and concepts from the course material (in conjunction with your ideas and perspectives) to realistic problem-solving situations. These ideas are sometimes at variance with the managers in the case. It is important to remember that you must always place yourself in the position of the manager in the case itself (or in the position of the person who identifies the problem and is the only one who can initiate any action) and explain what (and why) you would have analyzed the problem and implemented the solution differently in those same set of...
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...1365-2648.2009.05157.x Abstract Title. The use of theory in qualitative approaches to research: application in end-of-life studies. Aim. This paper is a report of an analysis of the use of theory in qualitative approaches to research as exemplified in qualitative end-of-life studies. Background. Nurses researchers turn to theory to conceptualize research problems and guide investigations. However, researchers using qualitative approaches do not consistently articulate how theory has been applied, and no clear consensus exists regarding the appropriate application of theory in qualitative studies. A review of qualitative, end-of-life studies is used to illustrate application of theory to study design and findings. Data sources. A review of theoretical literature was carried out, focusing on definitions and use of theory in qualitative end-of-life studies published in English between 1990 and 2008. Discussion. The term ‘theory’ continues to be used in a variety of ways by theorists and researchers. Within the reviewed end-of-life studies, the use of theory included theory creation or provision of a comparative framework for data analysis and interpretation. Implications for nursing. Nurses who...
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...Participation: A theoretical context Introduction Theories of community participation have received considerable academic attention particularly since the early 1990’s but have been a source of debate since at least the 1960s. This paper is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the most prominent theories which have been put forward as a means of understanding and appraising participation structures and practices. It has been prepared in order to provide a theoretical context within which the appropriateness of different approaches to community participation in rural transport in Wiltshire can be assessed. The note begins by providing a simple definition of participation. Two of the more prominent frameworks for community participation are then summarised and explored. In recognition that such frameworks represent simplifications of a far more complex reality, a number of these complexities are then explored, namely: • dimensions of power; • issues of process and capacity; and • the nature of ‘community’. The note concludes by describing an evaluation tool for community participation, which has sought to address many of these complexities. 1. A definition of participation For the purposes of this note a useful definition of public or community participation is that adopted by Stoker (1997) for ‘political participation’ (following Parry et al, 1992): members of the public ‘taking part in any of the processes of formulation, passage and implementation of public...
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...Introduction: Developed by Prochaska and DiClemente in 1983, the Trans-Theoretical Model is one of many popular theories, which is used to describe the event of changing a behavior. It is said that the Trans-Theoretical Model (TTM) is a theory of behavioral changes which "intentional behavior change is a process occurring in a series of stages, rather than a single event and that motivation is required for the focus, effort and energy needed to move through the stages” (Miller, W.R., Rollnick, S., 2002). What makes the Trans-Theoretical Model so unique, is that it describes how change occurs over time and not immeadiately. According to Prochaska & DiClemente (1983), this theory proposes that a person may progress through five stages of change when trying to modify their behaviors. In the first stage titled pre-contemplation, we have people who have no intentions of taking action, or wanting to change their behavior in the near future. Many peers suggest that the desire to change a behavior is usually measured within the next six months (Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992). Individuals in this stage are unaware or uninformed of the consequences of their behavior (Scholl, 2002), or they may have had a number of failed attempts and are reluctant to try again (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997). Prochaska et al. (1992), says the main component of pre-contemplation, is the person shows resistance to recognize or modify problem behavior. For an individual to move out of this stage...
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...Philosophy of Science (All Science, not just social science) During the time of the ancient Greeks—that is, Socrates and Plato, but before them and after them as well, the study of “philosophy” (Greek for “love of wisdom”) began. At that time, philosophy included both the natural and physical sciences as well what we know as philosophy today. The development of philosophy created a tension between philosophy, science, and religion. Remember that Socrates was put to death for allegedly questioning the existence of the official state-worshiped gods. This tension between philosophy, science and religion continued through the 1400’s and 1500’s when the European “Enlightenment” emphasized the concept that both “rational thought” and “science” was separate from religion. Today, they are still generally in tension. Whether these methods of gaining knowledge are consistent or not is constantly debated among scientists, theologians, and philosophers. Science=observation of the physical universe which includes (beginning in the late 1800’s) the study of human behavior using our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell); Religion=the study of the “divine” (i.e., god, however a person conceives of that notion, and it’s implications) Philosophy=the study of questions unanswerable by science through the use of “reason” (rational thought) alone. Thus, there are 4 different philosophical views on how humans can obtain knowledge: 1. mysticism/divine revelation—a...
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...article ‘The fundamentals of standardizing global marketing strategy’ (2007), Viswanathan and Dickson contribute to the discussion by examining the considerations related to the standardisation of a multinational company’s marketing practices. The authors subsequently propose a new theoretical framework that identifies three complex drivers to be considered in evaluating the degree of marketing standardisation possible: the similarity of consumer response to the marketing mix, the transmissibility of competitive advantage, and similarities in the amount of economic freedom in different markets. The article imparts perceptive insights on the latter two drivers, which, according to the literature review, have been relatively ignored by researchers in comparison to the role of consumers. This critical review assesses the structure and practicality of the proposed conceptual framework, as well as the comprehensiveness of the authors’ exploration of the issue. The proposed theoretical model, intended for the use of marketing practitioners as an instrument in decision-making, appears reasonably sound, with potential for long-term relevance. However, the relative weights of the three drivers comprising the model, as well the degrees of standardisation possible for each major and minor element of the marketing mix, deserve more thorough consideration and further elaboration. Viswanathan and Dickson provide an informed summation of the standardisation versus...
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...TOPic: DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS: AN OVERVIEW AND ITS ROLE IN BUSINESS Introduction A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present are: * Inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts), * Comparative sales figures between one period and the next, * Projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions. Making decisions concerning complex systems (e.g., the management of organizational operations, industrial processes, or investment portfolios; the command and control of military units; or the control of nuclear power plants) often strains our cognitive capabilities. Even though individual interactions among a system's variables may be well understood, predicting how the system will react to an external manipulation such as a policy decision is often difficult. What will be, for example, the effect of introducing the third shift on a factory floor? One might expect that this will increase the plant's output by roughly 50 percent. Factors such as additional wages, machine weardown, maintenance breaks, raw material usage, supply logistics, and...
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...MANAGEMEN SUDIES IGBINEDION UNIVERSITY, OKADA MARCH, 2015 Abstract As tasks of accounting became more difficult and focus shifted to users’ needs, a theory became necessary. Existence of a need for information for decision making (decision usefulness) in face of information asymmetry led to development of means, tools and techniques for satisfying decision making needs (formulation of accounting theories) This paper briefly discusses the purpose/importance for accounting theory and various approaches to the formulation of an accounting theory under two headings, namely: (1) traditional approaches, and (2) new approaches. The paper finally highlights the critiques of the accounting theory approaches Table of Content 1.0.0. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… 1 2.0.0. Meaning of Accounting Theory………………………………………………………… 2 2.1.0. Needs and Purpose for Accounting Theory…………………………………………….. 3 3.0.0. Early Attempts at Accounting Theory……………………………………………………...3 4.0.0. Approaches to the for Formulation of Accounting Theory……………………………….5 4.1.0. 4.1.0. The Traditional Approaches………………………………………………………..5 4.1.1. Non – Theoretical, Practical, or Pragmatic (Informal) Approaches……............................5 4.1.2. Theoretical Approaches…………………………………………………...........................6 4.1.21. Deductive Approach………………………………………………………………………6 4.1.22. Inductive Approach ……………………………………………………………………….6 4.1.23. Ethical Approach……………………………………………………………...
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...of the senses” (Gregory R L 1966 Eye and Brain, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson The CDP is affected by many factors and is very complex Often consumers rely on decision heuristics and do not always make rational purchase decisions Level of involvement with the product can affect the decision techniques used. Consumers sometimes make a decision to repeatedly purchase one brand in preference to others (brand loyalty) Increasing the consumer’s level of involvement may encourage more rational decisions (Jansson-Boyd) 1. The overall aim of the assessment is to show that you understand how psychological (from within), sociological (from society) and marketer controlled (marketing mix) factors combine to influence purchase behaviour and decisions. 2. In order to demonstrate your understanding you will make extensive use of the constructs, models and theories that we have learned about in the module. For example, motivation is a “construct”. There are theories which attempt to explain it (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) and there is a model (Means-End-Chain analysis) which helps us to apply the theory to specific examples. The more constructs, theories and models you apply appropriately and correctly the more marks you will score for the theoretical content. 3. As illustrated in the marking scheme the theoretical content must cover psychological factors (such as attention, perception, motivation,...
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...PhD Thesis 1998 Social, environmental and ethical factors in engineering design theory: a post-positivist approach Terence Love Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering University of Western Australia Social, environmental and ethical factors in engineering design theory: a post-positivist approach Terence Love B.A. (Hons) Engineering This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering 1998 Abstract This research investigated how social, environmental and ethical factors can be better included in theories of engineering design. The research focused on designing as an essentially human activity via consideration of the epistemological and ontological issues involved in constructing coherent design theory. The research investigations led to a clearer understanding of the roles of ontology, epistemology and methodology in design research and this clarification enabled the construction of a post-positivist approach to engineering design theory that better includes social, environmental and ethical factors alongside the existing products of scientific engineering design research. Other contributions to knowledge that emerged from the research process and which underpin the conclusions include; clarification of the terminology and basic...
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...PhD Thesis 1998 Social, environmental and ethical factors in engineering design theory: a post-positivist approach Terence Love Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering University of Western Australia Social, environmental and ethical factors in engineering design theory: a post-positivist approach Terence Love B.A. (Hons) Engineering This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering 1998 Abstract This research investigated how social, environmental and ethical factors can be better included in theories of engineering design. The research focused on designing as an essentially human activity via consideration of the epistemological and ontological issues involved in constructing coherent design theory. The research investigations led to a clearer understanding of the roles of ontology, epistemology and methodology in design research and this clarification enabled the construction of a post-positivist approach to engineering design theory that better includes social, environmental and ethical factors alongside the existing products of scientific engineering design research. Other contributions to knowledge that emerged from the research process and which underpin the conclusions include; clarification of the terminology and basic...
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...1.1 Explain Guest's model of hard-soft, loose-tight dimensions of HRM. The most widely acceptable models of HRM are the soft and hard versions. The soft model is associated with human relation and the hard model on the other hand sees employees as human resource (Gratton et. al. 1999). The soft model assumes that employees respond better when an organisation recognise their individual needs and addresses them as well as focusing on the overall business objectives. The hard model primarily focus to promote human resource planning strategy, align with business strategy, outsourcing, flexibility, performance management and downsizing or work intensification. Some HRM models have been developed by UK academics including Guest and Storey. Guest has identified key features of personal management and HRM that allow for comparative measurement and acknowledging the close links between human resource strategy and general business strategy (Bratton and Gold 2003). The Guest model of HRM is given below: 1.2 Review the differences between Storey's definition of HRM and personnel and IR practices. There are some differences between HRM and Personnel Management (PM) and Industrial Relation (IR) practices as there are a lot of different views and contradictions. HRM is a new managerial discipline that has different perspectives of PM and IR, but create a new and broader disciple as a results of different views and contradictions of these two (Beardwell and Holden 1997). The main aim of...
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...Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): Evaluating Organizational Efficiency and Success through Employee Performance In Israeli Public Management Eran Vigoda-Gadot Abstract Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is a unique aspect of individual activity at work, first mentioned in the early 1980s. According to Organ's (1988) definition, It represents "individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organization" (p.4). This special behavior has become a lively research field investigated by organizational sociologists, psychologists, and management researchers. However, whereas most of the studies appear to deal with the phenomenon from a behavioral/functional perspective the natural orientation of citizenship to the political science arena is overlooked. Two main facets of OCB are mentioned in previous studies: (1) OCB altruistic, and (2) OCB compliance. Whereas altruism appears to represent the help to specific persons, generalized compliance is a factor defined by a more impersonal sort of conscientiousness. It implies more of a "good soldier" or "good citizen" syndrome of doing things that are "right and proper", but doing them for the sake of the system rather than for specific persons. In the view of Smith et al. (1983), the two elements represent distinct classes of citizenship. This study tries to identify the...
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...Some notes on case study methodology for Action COST project Draft (06-08-08) Salvador Parrado Table of contents CASE STUDIES AND THEIR RATIONALE 1 CASE STUDY DESIGN 2 Research question 2 Research objectives 3 Specification of variables 3 Case selection 3 Describing the variance in variables 3 Formulation of data requirements and general questions 3 CONSIDERATIONS FOR CASE STUDY DESIGN 3 Causal mechanisms and process tracing: clarification notes 3 Typological theory: clarification notes 3 APPENDIX - RESEARCH QUESTIONS FROM COST ACTION PARTICIPANTS 3 LITERATURE 3 CASE STUDIES AND THEIR RATIONALE This note sets some options for discussing a case study methodology for COST Action project -CRIPO. The note is subject to discussion (COST session in Rotterdam 5- September 2008) not only on the methodological aspects to be followed but also on the applied options for COST project. This section is devoted to justify the usefulness of case studies. Those who are already persuaded may skip it. Case studies are helpful in numerous ways. The definition offered by (Seawright and Gerring, 2008 p. 296) is useful: “the intensive (qualitative or quantitative) analysis of a single unit or a small number of units (the cases), where the researcher’s goal is to understand a larger class of similar units (a population of cases). There is thus an inherent problem of inference from the sample...
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...Background: John Bachman worked with IBM for 26 years and contributed to IBM’s Business Systems Planning program. During his tenure with IBM, he derived his own version of enterprise architecture based on ideas from classical architecture and aircraft manufacturing. His approach to architecture is called Zachman framework for Information systems architecture (ISA). The first version of the framework was released in 1987 and has been revised multiple times after that. The framework draws on Zachman’s experience of how business processes are managed in complex products and requires as engineered approach to development and modification. The framework allows one to view how a same product can be described in multiple different ways by different participants depending on their perspective of product’s purpose. Zachman framework shows how different perspective exists and how they can fit together. Its more of a taxonomy than a framework. The easiest way to understand the Zachman Enterprise architecture framework is to view it as a classification scheme represented visually as a table or matrix, with 30 boxes or cells organized in to six columns. Each cell represents a unique mode and can be described using its own technique such as flowchart, entity -relationships diagram. The framework basically explains how cells in different columns and rows related to each other. Conceptual graphs are used to formally define the logical relationships between different cells. The decomposition...
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