Business Research Essays - Marketing, Evaluation,

Business Research Introduction and Overview Businesses in today's economy often face challenges that are not readily apparent until, more often than not, the costs of those challenges become critical. A businesses ability to identify the fundamentals of these challenges and act accordingly to squelch the damage that has been done while bouncing back is paramount to the businesses success. This paper will identify three key areas in identifying and repairing the critical problems that can occur. More importantly, this paper will also identify several fundamentals within the three areas. The paper will examine some sub levels of (1) analysis, (2) cost, and (3) research. Additionally, this paper will discuss the measures that several companies took in these areas to show special examples of these principles in use. Analysis Within the scope of needs assessment and analysis there are many building blocks that complete the full picture. One such block is comprised of the levels of analysis. And within the levels of analysis there are three main points. These points as reported by Goldstien (1993); McGehee and Thayer (1961); Moore and Dutton (1978); and Sleezer (1991) are (1) organization, (2) job or task, and (3) individual or person (as cited by Holton). The following paragraphs will discuss each of these three points by defining and demonstrating their context within analysis. Organization Holton (1996) suggests that the three-level approach to needs assessment suggests that assessors should start by analyzing the organization to determine what results are not occurring and should be, and what organizational factors are contributing to that condition. This could easily be interpreted as examining the issue on a macro level to determine if the organization is meeting its goals and objectives or not. A good example of this level of analysis put to good use is demonstrated by Kmart in the late 1950's. In a case study by Hartley (1997) Kmart and the two year analysis of their market performed by Harry B. Cunningham (later President of Kmart). In this instance Cunningham studied the overall market and competitors while analyzing the Krieger (Kmart) organization. This needs assessment eventually led Krieger to change its approach to that of the discount genre and the first Kmart was opened in 1962. Though the company had experienced a 34 percent decrease in profits between 1958 and 1962, the new venture called Kmart was an immediate success (Hartley 1997). Kmart would grow from 216 stores in 1968 to 1,366 stores in 1978. Task Task analysis, as stated by Dessler (1997), is a detailed study of a job to identify the skills required so that an appropriate training program may be instituted. By analyzing the task, a company can determine a variety of methodologies for hiring, training, and forecasted outcome for the task being analyzed. Additionally, effective task analysis enables a company to determine what tasks need to be performed, and gives it the ability to gauge whether or not the necessary tasks are indeed being performed. A classic example of this is demonstrated by a needs analysis performed for General Motors (GM) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) on the task analysis level. According to Finison and Szedlak (1997), GM and the UAW formed a needs analysis team to identify and correct several challenges in a production facility. The focus in this case was in the blanker area of a metal fabrication plant and served as a pilot to other programs which would follow. After examining the issues through a needs analysis, the team determined that the focus of the needs analysis would be on training (Finison 1997). By focusing in this area, new training was provided for the production operators. Finison and Szidlak (1997) also noted that costs were minimal because the course was already offered in- house. The results were improved quality and a 30 percent reduction in scrap rate. The overall value was a savings of over $500,000 in the first year alone among other ancillary benefits. Individual At the individual level of analysis, a firm is essentially taking the other side of the task analysis. By this, as written by Holton (1996), the firm or assessor should study individuals to determine who needs learning to accomplish those jobs tasks. According to Dessler (1997), verifying that there is a performance deficiency and determining