08/02/2017 1 Research Methods for Business & Management • You are required to submit this to the office on a date TBD: • A single powerpoint slide, in hard copy, printed on letter sized paper. •You should submit 1 copy of this. •A populated assignment cover sheet must be attached, ensuring your correct SID number is reflected thereupon • Use appropriate figures and diagrams as well as text to convincingly sell your research – 500 words • Ensure your headings can be clearly discerned from your regular text, and when printed all content is clearly visible08/02/2017 2 • Make your poster visually appealing. • Usually done in 3 columns. • Write clearly. Make sure your proposal includes complete sentences and accurate spelling and punctuation.  Title – Ideally, should mirror closely the intent of the research (and concomitantly the content of the rest of the poster)  Introduction - The goal is to give the reviewers some basic academic information they can be used to evaluate the significance of the research being proposed i.e. how important the topic area is as a whole, to contemporary management practice and to the organization being studied. Literature needs therefore to be used. Be sure also to clearly establish that a related problem, appears to exist at the named entity.08/02/2017 3  Rationale for the study, considering:  What is the research issue? What is the problem you want to investigate? ▪ Be sure to write in terms of the symptoms of the problem and don't prematurely introduce what should be findings of the work ▪ For eg. A topic that aims to look at Employee Engagement for example, should not indicate at this point, that employees are disengaged because of poor reward strategies, and weak leadership. If you do this then it suggests you already know the answer to the problem and therefore there is no need for the study. If however you were to say that employee productivity has declined while employee absenteeism has increased over the period 2010-2015, and provide statistics to show that, then you are pointing to symptoms of what might be a potential Employee Engagement issue – and you're on the right track. ▪ To wrap it all up though, you would want to affirm that these symptoms do in fact allude to an Employee Engagement issue by citing some author/s who confirm/s that indeed such symptoms are indicative of wider Employee Engagement concerns.  Rationale for the study, considering:  Why is it an issue? What likely negative affects might it portend for the entity/ies under investigation? ▪ Use literature which talk about the risks of leaving such issues (as you described in response to the first question) unattended. ▪ To further strengthen the response, provide live examples of what may have happened in real life companies, when these issues were left unresolved. ▪ Even better, if you notice (preliminarily) a worrying pattern at your own organization that points towards the negative consequences of these issues, you can comment on it also. Use related statistics or data from your company to demonstrate therefore.08/02/2017 4  Rationale for the study, considering:  Why is it an issue now? What makes it worthy of study at this particular juncture (think in terms of timeliness)? ▪ Comment on why the issue is more pressing at this period of time – on why it is particularly significant right about now. For example you might want to show how over the years the issue is growing progressively worse (use a graph or diagram), you might want to talk about a recent (time defined) mandate that has been issued by higher-ups to have the issue addressed, or specifics in the current environment (either internally or externally) that demands due attention be paid to the issue now.  Rationale for the study, considering:  How and when is it going to be investigated? ▪ The 'how' basically requires an early appreciation of the data collection methods and methods of administration that will be engaged in. ▪ The 'when' requires you to reflect on some key timeframes/milestones that would take you through to completion of the dissertation.  N.B. even though marks for this will be awarded under the Rationale criteria, you are allowed to place this information, not under the specific Rationale heading, but under the Methodology heading of the poster.08/02/2017 5  Rationale for the study, considering:  What could this research shed light on? What do you envisage your research can help with? Practically (from the actual organizational perspective) and Theoretically (in terms of what contribution you can make to theoretical knowledge) ▪ In other words what useful purpose your research can serve. ▪ What problems would it help to arrest, rectify or reverse ▪ Use literature and live examples from companies to build up the area ▪ Eg. This research which focuses on Employee Engagement and how it might be improved at ABC Co., is likely to help the organization realize improved profitability, as research done by HR Analytics (2013) has shown that a .01 increase in engagement per employee can yield an increase of $100,000 in profits annually. Similar profitability benefits were recorded by Oracle Corporation who saw revenues increase by as much as $1M USD per quarter each year after implementing Employee Engagement practices (Oracle, 2015).  N.B. even though marks for this will be awarded under the Rationale criteria, you are allowed to place this information, not under the specific Rationale heading, but under the Conclusion heading of the poster.  Research Question – what is the burning question you plan to address in the research, coming out of the scenario articulated in the rationale  Research Aim – By extension, what is the ultimate end-result of the research? What meaningful benefit will your research allow for the entity/ies under consideration?  Research Objectives – What milestones would you need to meet in order to execute the research; to answer the RQ and so that the Aim of the research can be fulfilled. *Use guidance notes for crafting same and feedback from the relevant activity sheet to help construct these08/02/2017 6  Methodology – Answering to the how and when question. See related supplemental handout for assistance.  Conclusion - A summary of the main idea you'd want to leave the examiner with. In other words summarize your take-home message (What could this research shed light on – practically and theoretically?).  Indicative content/Bibliography – a list of resources (built to reflect proper Harvard requirements for same) that shows the examiner the key sources you intend to tap into for your literature review  I'd also remind students to go back to marking scheme. Look at what you'd be marked on and make absolutely sure that you've catered to such.  For those persons still wanting an additional push, I have found the following link to provide useful generic information on preparing a poster presentation: http://www.personal.psu.edu/drs18/postershow/#08/02/2017 7 Marking criteria Marks (1) Does the working title mirror closely the content of the poster? Maximum 20% (2) Does the introductory part of the poster inform the reader of the problem or situation and the context that the student is interested in? Maximum 20% (3) Does the poster inform the reader of the rationale of the study? (a) What is the research issue? (b) Why is it an issue? Why is it an issue now? (c) How and when is it going to be investigated? (d) What could this research shed light on? Maximum 60% (15%) (15%) (15%) (15%)08/02/2017 8 Research posters are commonly used in postgraduate education. They are designed to allow the student the freedom to present initial ideas, or work in progress, in a clear and compelling manner. The most usual format is: A2 PowerPoint (a template will be provided) Three columns Plenty of appropriate figures and diagrams as well as text08/02/2017 9 Research posters are commonly used in postgraduate education. They are designed to allow the student the freedom to present initial ideas, or work in progress, in a clear and compelling manner. The most usual format is: A2 PowerPoint (a template will be provided) Three columns Plenty of appropriate figures and diagrams as well as text Research posters are commonly used in postgraduate education. They are designed to allow the student the freedom to present initial ideas, or work in progress, in a clear and compelling manner. The most usual format is: A2 PowerPoint (a template will be provided) Three columns Plenty of appropriate figures and diagrams as well as text08/02/2017 10 1.1 Proposed Title 1.2 Background to chosen subject area i.e. definition of the concept and the importance of the topic area to contemporary management practice– paying attention to the strategic importance thereof as far as possible. 1.3 Managerial Dilemma/Problem Statement/Need for the Study/Research Rationale/Justification for the Study – use similar guidance as was provided for the poster, making sure you answer to these questions. ▪ What is the research issue? ▪ Why is it an issue? Why is it an issue now? ▪ What could this research shed light on? Also, you might want to think in terms of whether the research if of any Regional Significance, National Significance, Industry Significance, Organizational Significance, Academic Significance and or Professional/Personal Significance.08/02/2017 11 1.4 Research Question/s 1.5 Research Aims 1.6 Research Objectives 1.7 National/Industry/Organizational Background – depending on which - include a discussion of the state of same (with supporting figures), the nature of business, small history thereof, mission, vision etc. As far as possible try to make a link between these and your research emphasis. 1.8 Legal Framework – if applicable