©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 1 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Master of Business Administration LEARNING MATERIALS PROJECT ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 2 729PROJ Project Learning Materials TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. How to choose a project ..................................................................... 4 3. How to write a literature overview ..................................................... 7 4. How to select the research methodology ............................................ 9 5. How to collect data ........................................................................... 13 6. How to address research ethics requirements .................................. 16 7. How to structure the project proposal .............................................. 20 8. How to structure the project report .................................................. 25 APPENDIX A: Example project topics ....................................................... 33 APPENDIX B: How to conduct the interview ............................................ 35 APPENDIX C: Research consent forms ..................................................... 40 APPENDIX D: Project proposal feedback form ......................................... 43 APPENDIX E: Project proposal research ethics sheet............................... 44 APPENDIX F: Example project proposal .................................................. 45 APPENDIX G: Example Project Report ..................................................... 56 ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 3 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 1. Before you start… Congratulations! As you commence your project subject, you should be well on your way to completing your MBA course. These learning materials will be an invaluable resource to you as you undertake this subject. Please ensure that you read these learning materials carefully and refer to them often as you complete the project subject. As will be covered in more detail below, you must complete a project proposal and obtain approval to proceed with your project. You will then subsequently complete a project report (based on the project proposal). The main elements of these materials, which will help you undertake these assessments, are:  How to choose a project  How to write a literature overview  How to select the research methodology  How to collect data  How to address research ethics requirements  How to structure the project proposal  How to structure the project report We hope you thoroughly enjoy completing the project and wish you the best of luck in completing your MBA journey with AIB. 1.1 Research Process Flowchart 1. Identifying the research problem 3. Conducting literature overview. 4. Identifying the research methodology. 6. Analysing data (key findings). 8. Discussing findings and relating back to literature overview. 7. Using key findings to answer research questions. 9. Showing the research questions have been answered and research issue has been addressed. 5. Collecting data. 2. Developing research questions. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 4 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 2. How to choose a project Chapter 2 of the subject textbook, (Saunders, M, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2016, Research methods for business students, 7th edn, Pearson, London) helps explain how to identify and formulate your research topic. 2.1 What should be the topic area of the Project? If you are undertaking a generic MBA (as opposed to an MBA with specialisation) you can choose to do a project in any area relevant to the MBA or aligned with any of the MBA subjects. However, if you are undertaking an MBA with specialisation, you must undertake your Project in the area of specialisation, as required by the degree rules of MBA specialisations. The project can be based on your organisation, another existing organisation of your choice, or a newly forming organisation. The Project can be either an extension of an assignment completed in a previous subject in that discipline area, or can focus on a different issue. The project should be research involving discussion of existing literature about your research topic, identification of research questions, collection of data, analysis of the data and discussion of findings with answers to the research questions. Because this is a business degree, your project must focus on an organisational or a management or a business issue. PLEASE NOTE The project is part of your MBA degree. Its purpose is to expose you to an understanding of research processes and the practice of research, which will be useful to you in your profession, your job, or your career now or in the future. It is not the same as, nor should it be confused with studies carried out in higher research degree programs that university research postgraduate students do. Higher research degree programs would usually require more than a year’s work in reading, theory development, data collection, analysis, theory testing, and thesis writing. These would typically lead to a Masters by Research or a PhD, which is not the objective of your coursework MBA. Your timeframe simply does not allow for it. Therefore, think of your project as a basic research study. It is unlikely that you will be uncovering new knowledge or developing significant results; however, with the completion of this project, your knowledge of research processes may, in the future, help you carry out more expansive research Projects if you choose to or are required to take them up. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 5 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Please note that a business plan, marketing plan or anything similar is not appropriate for your project. The development of a business or marketing plan does not clearly involve data collection or data analysis and hence does not provide the opportunity to carry out a research project. If you would like to complete a Project related to a business or marketing plan, you could design a project that does background research which provides findings that can potentially feed into (or give direction) to a business or marketing plan. 2.2 What issue(s) should the project focus on? Once you have selected your topic area your focus within that area should preferably be an issue that you want to learn more about and could address a problem that the organisation would like to resolve. To help you identify the actual project topic, you must draw upon your accumulated work experience, your personal interests and vision, and the knowledge you have gained from the subjects you have studied. It may help to think of answers to these questions:  What is a problem or issue in the organisation that I could investigate and help to solve?  What is an issue or area that I need to know more about if I am going to build my career or business?  What subjects/topics/issues in my study did I really enjoy or do well in? Appendix A contains examples of Project topics completed by previous MBA candidates at AIB. Browsing through that list could provide you with some ideas for your own project. The Appendix is provided for inspiration; please do not feel limited by these topics. You should consider the ‘Goldilocks test’ for project selection. The topic and research questions should not be ‘too big, too small or too hot – but should be just right’:  Topics that are too big will demand too many resources (like interviewing the CFOs of the top 50 companies in Australia).  Topics that are too small are likely to be of insufficient substance (like a cost benefit analysis comparing leasing and purchase of new equipment).  Topics that are too hot may be so because of sensitivities that can be aroused as a result of doing the research (often this is a matter that is commercially or politically sensitive and is unlikely to be approved by the organisation). A project that is ‘just right’ will have none of the above attributes, will typically involve case study research (because action research takes so long to do) and will require the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data. It is very important to identify your focus from the outset. Then, you can be more selective about what information you gather. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 6 729PROJ Project Learning Materials It is very important that your research is ethical. All AIB projects must adhere to national research ethics requirements. That is why there are (some) restrictions around the projects you can do. AIB will only approve ‘no risk’, ‘negligible risk’ or ‘low risk’ projects – as defined by the (Australian) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. This means you can only collect information directly from people who clearly and genuinely are able to give informed consent to their participation (i.e. no surveys or interviews with children, the elderly, people with disabilities, patients, etc.). It also means you can only do mainstream projects. 2.3 What is the project’s research problem? It is good research practice to re-phrase your general issue and turn it into a question that you plan to answer in your project. This question is the ‘research problem’ that your project will address. For example, adapted from the textbook (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2016, p. 45), the general issue in Table 2.2 ‘Graduate recruitment via the Internet’ can be formulated into a research problem as follows:  ‘To what extent and in what type of context is Internet-based recruitment and selection of graduates effective and why?’ OR  ‘How can my organisation use the Internet to improve effectiveness in job recruitment?’ Similarly:  ‘Advertising and share prices’ becomes the research problem ‘How does running a TV advertising campaign designed to boost the image of a company affect its share price?’  ‘The use of aromas as a marketing tool’ becomes the research problem, ‘How does the use of specific aromas in supermarkets affect buyer behaviour?’  ‘The future of trade unions’ becomes the research problem ‘What strategies can trade unions adopt to assure their future viability?’ 2.4 What are the project’s research questions? The research problem is the overarching question that you want to address in the project. The research problem may be the research question for your Project; however, it often helps to break down the research problem into two or three smaller questions. These smaller questions are the ‘research questions’ for the Project. By answering the research questions you are then finding the answer to the overarching question, the research problem. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 7 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 3. How to write a literature overview 3.1 Objectives of the literature overview Because of the timeframe for BBA/MBA Projects and because of the nature of the degree (which is coursework), the research is relatively basic. Therefore, a literature overview will suffice instead of a comprehensive examination of the literature. The least that AIB expects is that you have made some sense of the literature, and that you know the role of the literature and its place in your project. You have three objectives to fulfil when writing the literature overview. Firstly, you need to introduce and review items of previous research in the area of study. Introducing and reviewing items of previous research takes up the greatest part of the literature overview. Secondly, you need to indicate a gap in the previous research by raising a question about it, or extending previous knowledge in some way. Finally, you must outline the purpose or state the nature of the present research. Statements that achieve our second and third objectives typically occur in the first and last paragraphs and sections of the literature overview. Students often write and re-write the literature overview a few times. Since each version will serve a different purpose, you should not think you are writing the same thing over and over and getting nowhere. Where you may have trouble is if you just try to take whole sections out of an earlier version and paste them into the final version which, by now, has to be differently conceived. The understanding of our Project changes day by day, therefore, what we have written earlier might not reflect our current understanding of our Project. In practical terms, it is necessary to have an overall picture of how the thread runs through your analysis of the literature before you can get down to actually writing a particular section. The strategy which writers use as a way to begin the literature overview is to proceed from the general, wider view of the research you are reviewing to the specific problem. This is not a formula but is a common pattern and may be worth trying. So if for example, you are interested in reviewing the role of employee safety in the construction industry, the best place to start is to look at what employee safety is and what it means to different organisations and industries before you finally focus on the construction industry. This shows us the progression from general to specific and the beginning of that thread which then continues through the text leading to the aims of the project. 3.2 Effective paragraphs in a literature overview The secret to good academic writing is how you construct your paragraphs. Let's understand this further by learning how to structure paragraphs in our literature overview. A good way of understanding a paragraph is to think of it as a mini essay. The topic sentence tells the reader the point the writer wants to make. The supporting sentences expand on the point, points to, or discusses evidence, and the concluding sentence tells the reader what the significance of the point is. In this way, the reader knows not only what the point is, but also what evidence there is to make it, and importantly, why that point is being made–it connects the paragraph to the overall argument. If you analyse the example below you will see that the paragraph in it is written using this model. In academic writing, in-text referencing must ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 8 729PROJ Project Learning Materials be included. Here is an academic paragraph that would be typical for the body of a literature overview: Self-awareness is a critical skill/ability for leaders. Self-awareness is the capacity to be aware of emotions and feelings, moment to moment (Smith 2013). If one is not aware of one’s own emotions in an interaction, it would be impossible to regulate one’s emotions, which is the second component in Goleman’s model (Goleman 1995; Jackson 2011). For example, if one is not aware of rising anger in oneself in an interaction, the effectiveness of communication may be impeded by an inappropriate outburst of anger. Thus, self-awareness is not only imperative for communication but is also considered the foundation of emotional intelligence (Goleman 1995; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso 2008). 3.3 Organising the literature overview It is through paragraphs that we will build the arguments in our literature overview. Let us review the example below which introduces a topic using the literature. In the literature it is recognised that a dichotomy exists between agricultural and business marketing because the marketing management approach is not prominent in agricultural marketing theory. Johnson (2013) suggests that agricultural marketing has traditionally incorporated everything that happens between the farm gate and the consumer, therefore encompassing areas which ‘the purist’ may not consider marketing. While analysis of government intervention and policy form the focus of agricultural marketing theory, studies of the objectives and decisions confronting individual businesses are central to business marketing theory. The text moves on to specify issues at various levels. Although the focus is sharper, the coverage at the same time opens out. Whatever the pattern which fits your work best, you need to keep in mind that what you are doing is writing about what was done before. But, you are not simply reporting on previous research. You have to write about it in terms of how well it was done and what it achieved. This has to be organised and presented in such a way that it inevitably leads to what you want to do and shows it is worth doing. You are setting up the stage for your work. McDonald (2009) was the first to identify an agricultural marketing school of thought focusing on business marketing theory, and this school of thought seems to be growing Comment [Author1]: The opening sentence indicates what the paragraph is about and makes a clear argument. Comment [Author2]: This sentence uses theory to support the opening argument. Comment [Author3]: Introducing the concept and its importance. Statement of the overall main point or take home message. Comment [Author4]: This sentence uses theory to support the opening argument. Comment [Author5]: The last sentence makes a conclusion that is based on the discussion in the paragraph. The nature of the present research has become clear. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 9 729PROJ Project Learning Materials more prominent. For example, Harris (2012) acknowledges that during the 1970s a minor paradigm shift occurred in agricultural marketing with a move towards business marketing. He notes how successive editions of Kohl’s agricultural marketing textbook (1972 and 1980) have changed to describe the marketing concept. Jones (2010) points out a number of agricultural marketers who have partially incorporated the marketing management approach, but mainly focus on the behaviour of agribusiness companies (e.g. McGee 2009; Harrison 2011), rather than individual farm firms. By the time you conclude your literature overview, you should have clearly signalled the discipline and fields to which the literature relates, concisely represented previous work on the topic area, and explained how your research will contribute to literature in your field. The apparent differences between agricultural marketing and business marketing theories may not present a problem because both disciplines examine issues which are likely to require different theories and techniques for analysis. However, concern must be expressed at the failure of researchers to comprehensively examine the marketing strategies undertaken by individual farm businesses. Businesses in the agricultural sector include farmers and other often larger and more sophisticated agribusinesses, such as input suppliers and merchants. Business literature contains published articles examining the marketing strategies of large agribusiness companies; however, little research appears to reach down to the farm business level. Notice also how the research begins by focusing on the main topic area and then narrowing down to the gap in the research. This is the point when you should formally state your research questions and outline what you plan to find out from the project. Hopefully, you have understood the importance of a literature overview and what its essential components are. If you would like more comprehensive information in this respect please refer to pages 70–115 of the textbook for detailed instructions on how to conduct a literature review. Note that for this Project the term used is ‘literature overview’ rather than ‘literature review’. 4. How to select the research methodology There are a wide range of research methodologies that guide the collection and analysis of data about your research problem. As AIB is committed to work-applied learning, it is likely Comment [Author6]: The literature overview unfolds as findings of other authors are examined which can support or refute your topic. Comment [Author7]: This sentence uses theory to support the opening argument. Comment [Author8]: This is a concluding signposting sentence for the paragraph Comment [Author9]: An inference has been drawn from the literature overview which supports the author’s present research aims. Comment [Author10]: A gap in the previous research is being identified. Comment [Author11]: The author has made the claim that the gap has been identified and that his research will occupy and fill the gap. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 10 729PROJ Project Learning Materials that you will be undertaking exploratory research using qualitative procedures, specifically case research methodology or action research methodology. 4.1 Exploratory vs. explanatory research There are two main research pathways that guide data collection and analysis. Your research is either exploratory (or theory building) or explanatory (or theory testing). A brief description of these approaches is on pages 174 and 176 of the textbook. Exploratory research typically asks ‘what’, ‘who’ and ‘how’ questions which are answered through description or discussion. Exploratory research is appropriate when not much is known about an issue and when relationships between different components of an issue are not clear. Exploratory research is appropriate when you are, literally, ‘exploring’ an issue. Explanatory research typically asks questions about ‘how many’ and ‘what proportion’ which can be answered with a number (or percentage) or with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Explanatory research is most effective when a lot of detail is already known and when relationships between parts of the issue can be clearly articulated. It is appropriate when you are testing something that is already known or when you are trying to find an additional explanation for something known. It is likely that you will be using exploratory research for your project as you will be exploring an issue in your organisation. 4.2 Action research methodology Action research is action-oriented and involves implementing change in an organisation. In action research, the researcher is a senior manager or consultant who creates change in an actual organisation. Action research is a prolonged process involving multiple people working together. Action research participants work together to change a workplace situation; participants plan, create change and learn from the process. The action research methodology is very useful and makes a direct impact on the organisation; however, in order for you to use this methodology a number of criteria need to be met:  you need access to a change oriented project  you need to be involved for a considerable period of time  you need to be able to complete the project as part of your everyday role  you need to be relatively senior in the organisation so that you can lead others through the process  you need to have the knowledge and skills to engage in a major organisational intervention  you need the support of a sponsor  your chosen organisation has to be fully supportive of change-oriented projects. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 11 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Because of the conditions that restrict the ability to become involved in action research, it is unlikely that you will be using this methodology for your project. Instead, it is likely that you will be using the case research methodology. 4.3 Case research methodology Case research uses multiple sources of data to understand an issue in its context and in the real world. The researcher is a staff member of the case organisation or an outside researcher who collects information about an issue of interest. One of the advantages of a case research project is that you can undertake a study of any organisation. It does not have to be your own organisation. Case research often involves several organisations; it then uses ‘multiple cases’. You could, for example, study the development of a particular management approach in a number of organisations. One typical study would be research of the approach to new product development by two or three organisations in different industries or in the same industry. For the purpose of an MBA project we recommend that you use just one case (which could be your own organisation). This is due to the fact that you may not have sufficient time to study and analyse issues in more than one organisation. However, there are limitations to a single case study because the findings may only be relevant to that single organisation you are studying. Even so, studying a single organisation may provide an opportunity to investigate a significant research issue that could not be dealt with in any other way. We recommend, therefore, when using a ‘single case’, that you justify why the use of one case is appropriate. Having only one case can be justified if the case meets one or more of these three criteria (Yin 2014):  the case is a critical one for confirming, challenging or extending a theory because it is the only one that meets all of the conditions of the theory  the case is rare or extreme and finding other cases is so unlikely that research about the situation could never be done if the single case was not investigated (for example, a clinical psychology case sometimes fits in this category)  the case provides unusual access for academic research, and unless the case is investigated, an opportunity to investigate a significant social science problem may be lost. As an example, it may be that access to one’s own firm provided to a researcher could enable the researcher to show how strategic marketing planning is actually done in the real world (with all its confidential information, power politics and human weaknesses that usually prevent academic researchers from finding out the real story about it). Based on our experience, this last point is usually the most relevant justification for single case study MBA Projects. It is important that you do not underestimate the time required to do a case research project. As previously noted, the time it takes to collect and work with data from multiple organisations is significantly greater than it would with just one. You also need to consider the relative difficulty of obtaining access to documents and/or key persons from multiple organisations, which would severely impact on your timeframe even further. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 12 729PROJ Project Learning Materials It is a research project, and it has to be thorough in its methods and application. 4.4 Survey methodology A survey is a common and popular strategy in research and most frequently used to answer the ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘how much’ and ‘how many’ questions. Some of the data collection techniques that belong to the survey strategy include the questionnaire, structured observation and structured interviews. Surveys using questionnaires are popular as they allow the collection of standardised data from a sizeable population in a highly economic way allowing easy comparisons. The survey strategy allows you to collect quantitative data which you can analyse quantitatively using descriptive and inferential statistics. In addition, data collected can be used to suggest possible reasons for particular relationships between variables and to produce models of these relationships. When sampling is done in a survey strategy, it is possible to generate findings that are representative of the whole population at a lower cost than collecting the data for the whole population; however, the researcher would need to spend time ensuring that the sample is representative, designing and piloting the data collection instrument and attempting to ensure a good response rate. Analysing the data can be done using readily available analysis software. This strategy contains a few limitations. One is that the data collected is less likely to be as wide ranging as those collected by other research strategies. There is a limit to the number of questions that can actually be included in a questionnaire if the goodwill of the respondents is not to be presumed on too much. In addition, one of the biggest drawbacks with using a questionnaire as part of a survey strategy is the actual capacity of the researcher to do it badly. 4.5 Qualitative vs. quantitative research methods There are two main types of research procedure. Many research projects include both qualitative and quantitative techniques, but usually one of the two dominates. Hence, a project is classified as either qualitative or quantitative. In the textbook you can read about qualitative and quantitative research methods on pages 165–174. Qualitative research focuses on textual information and is interested in rich description. It finds answers to research questions or research issues. Qualitative research looks for themes to be discovered in the data that is collected. It generates, analyses, and works with non- numeric data. Qualitative procedures and techniques are usually associated with exploratory (or theory building) research. For the purpose of your MBA, your qualitative research will very likely involve in-depth interviews of a small number of respondents, or focus group discussions involving small groups. Quantitative research focuses on numbers and is interested in statistical information. It tests (i.e. proves or disproves) hypotheses. Quantitative research aims for strength in statistical findings and are usually associated with explanatory (or theory testing) research. For the purpose of your MBA project, it is not likely that you will be collecting enormous, ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 13 729PROJ Project Learning Materials statistically significant amounts of data from large sample sizes. It is also highly unlikely that you will be using analytical statistics tools (to measure correlation, levels of confidence, statistical variance, longitudinal analysis, etc.). These methods require more than the time you have available as well as some complex calculations. Instead you will very likely be using descriptive statistics only, considering the small number of respondents you will be surveying. Descriptive statistics involves describing and comparing variables based on what the numerical data that you have collected from either or both primary and secondary sources tells you. Therefore, this involves computing for central tendency (mean, median and mode) and (if relevant) dispersion (standard deviation). It will not involve complex number crunching. You would need, however, to do your computations and present your findings in the form of graphs, charts, tables, and/or histograms. Use these only as you need to. 5. How to collect data Data collection is a critical part of any research process. Without data, there is no research. Data can be either secondary or primary, as you will see discussed below, and there are various techniques of data collection you can potentially use. First, determine what you want to do in your project, and then focus on the techniques that you will be using. The following flowchart should provide guidance. It shows you the two general types of data that you could use in your project, as well as what activities and techniques you would need to do to obtain them. Primary and secondary data are the two general types, and they will be explained in greater detail in the following sections. This flowchart has been provided to give you a snapshot of data and data collection in the course of your research project. 729PROJ Project Learning Materials ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 14 Flowchart for MBA Project ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 15 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 5.1 Secondary and primary data When doing research in or about organisations the researcher needs to collect data about the research problem. A project can use secondary and/or primary data – depending on the topic/specialisation. Projects in some specialisations (e.g. Finance, Logistics) tend to use secondary data more, while projects in others (e.g. Marketing, HRM) usually use primary data. AIB encourages students to use an appropriate data collection method. An important indicator of what is an ‘appropriate’ data collection method is the method generally used in practice when organisations are collecting information about issues similar to the one investigated by the project. Secondary data includes all data that has already been collected by others – usually in the form of documents or statistical information. Examples of secondary data that you might use are journal articles, annual reports, industry reports, government reports, and statistics in government databases. The textbook discusses secondary data on pages 316–343. Primary data includes all data that you collect yourself for your research project. You can collect primary data through surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, and participation. Again, the textbook is an excellent reference that discusses primary data on pages 388–427. For the purpose of your MBA project, you will probably use secondary data but you are normally also required to collect and use primary data. 5.2 How many people should you interview or survey? Based on experience it is usually projects in the Finance specialisation that use a primarily quantitative approach. However, choosing a primarily qualitative or quantitative approach will not only depend on your specialisation, but also on what you would like to study, which would determine the kind of data you will need from your respondents (i.e. the people you will be interviewing or surveying) and your other sources. AIB recommends the following guidelines for determining the number of respondents based on the research methodology you will use:  In-depth individual interviews (used mostly for qualitative research): 5 to 10 respondents. (You can, for example, interview between 5 to 10 employees or co- workers.)  Focus groups (used mostly for qualitative research): 2 focus groups composed of 6 to 8 respondents.  Questionnaire surveys (used mostly for quantitative research): o If you are doing your survey in one organisation (e.g. Employee survey) – 20 to 25 survey respondents. o For a mass consumer survey such as you might employ in a Project on Marketing – 100 survey respondents. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 16 729PROJ Project Learning Materials  Combined interview/survey (used for either or both methods): Aim for around 5 interviews plus 15 to 20 survey respondents. 5.3 Collecting data through interviews A common method for collecting primary data when doing research in organisations is by conducting interviews. It is highly likely that you will be involved in interviewing people in the organisation to obtain their description and understanding of a situation and/or their views and perceptions about an issue. Whenever you involve people in your research, you need to obtain signed consent from each of the participants. Hence, when interviewing or using focus groups, you should obtain people’s consent by using the individual consent form available in Appendix C. Essentially, an interviewer should follow these rules:  describe the purpose of the meeting  don’t evaluate – for example, do not say ‘that is interesting’  don’t interrupt  don’t create bias by introducing your own ideas  don’t worry about pauses – let the interviewee fill them  check your understanding, i.e. paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase (i.e. use active listening)  take notes  thank the respondent. More detail about good interviewing techniques is provided in the extract in Appendix B. It is an extract from one of the recommended texts listed in the Subject Overview. The extract comes from: Carson, D, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K & Perry, C 2001, Qualitative research in marketing, Sage, London. 6. How to address research ethics requirements When conducting a project you are using similar processes and practices as that of a fully- fledged researcher. Researchers are obliged to conform to AIB and national guidelines for the ethical conduct of research. In the same way you are expected to conform to these guidelines when conducting your project. Details of the national guidelines for ethical conduct of research are contained in the National statement on ethical conduct in human research which is available at https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/book/national-statement-ethical-conduct-human-research. Research ethics issues are discussed in detail in Chapter 6 of the textbook. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 17 729PROJ Project Learning Materials AIB will only approve ‘no risk’, ‘negligible risk’ or ‘low risk’ projects – as defined by the (Australian) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. This means you can only collect information directly from people who clearly and genuinely are able to give informed consent to their participation (i.e. no surveys or interviews with children, the elderly, people with disabilities, patients, etc.). It also means you can only do mainstream projects. 6.1 Why be concerned about ethics in the project Because this is a business degree, you must do a project with an organisational, management or business focus. Your research project addresses an issue that is important to an organisation. In order to conduct the research you will need participation from people within that organisation. For instance, you will need management to allow you to do the research in the organisation (by using the organisational consent form available in Appendix C), colleagues to agree to give you access to relevant documentation, staff to agree to talk to you in an interview, etc. People participating in your research have rights and those rights (including privacy and confidentiality) must be respected. Your project proposal (and project report) must demonstrate that you have considered the ethics issues relating to your Project and that you have put in place appropriate measures to respect the rights of interviewees and to protect the information you obtain. Even if you are based outside Australia, you are required to meet the Australian standards for ethical conduct of research. This project forms part of a degree conferred by AIB which is an Australian higher education provider; hence, the Project must conform to Australian requirements and standards. 6.2 What is ethical research conduct and what are the different levels of risk The National statement on ethical conduct in human research identifies various levels of risk associated with research projects. It is important for you to be aware of these risk levels as you should complete a project that falls in the ‘no risk’, ‘negligible risk’ or ‘low risk’ category. ‘No risk’ These are projects which involve only the use of existing collections of data or records that contain only non-identifiable data about human beings. This refers to the use of secondary data, particularly data comprising financial information or information about people that is coded (as is the case with formal census data). Since MBA Projects use primary data, it is unlikely that your MBA Project will be a ‘no risk’ project. ‘Negligible risk’ Projects in this category present no foreseeable risk of harm or discomfort to participants. In other words, participating in the project should not be stressful for the participant. At most the participants may experience some inconvenience. Inconvenience could involve ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 18 729PROJ Project Learning Materials having to make time for an interview or having to come to a particular location for a focus- group discussion. A project that only involves inconvenience is a ‘negligible risk’ project. This category is ideal for MBA projects. ‘Low risk’ Projects in this category have a potential foreseeable risk of discomfort for (some) participants and, as such, could involve (some) stress for the participant. Projects that involve interviews between the researcher and subordinates or the researcher and his/her supervisor can potentially be uncomfortable. Staff may feel obliged to participate while not really wanting to or may feel they have to answer a question while they would prefer not to respond. Projects that potentially involve some discomfort (but not anything more than that!) are ‘low risk’ projects. Your MBA project may fall in this category. ‘High risk’ Any project that does not fall in the first three categories is classified as ‘high risk’. AIB will not approve MBA projects that are ‘high risk’. 6.3 Ethical research requirements at various phases of the project Selecting the project When choosing your project, you can minimise potential ethical research risks by avoiding certain types of projects and choosing the right project. Therefore, avoid a project which may cause embarrassment, serious discomfort or major inconvenience to an organisation or to people. There are other categories of projects to avoid but these are highly unlikely MBA projects (e.g. projects involving children or under-age people, people with cognitive impairments or mental illness, people who may be involved in illegal activities, or projects involving testing on animals). Make sure you select a project in such a way that you are able to:  gain consent from the organisation to conduct the research  gain consent from individuals who will need to participate in your research (through interview/focus group/questionnaire survey). While you are not allowed to interview people from a vulnerable or sensitive group, it is possible to design a business project relating to a hospital or a school or a disability organisation. For instance, you could do a project about communication channels for schools and collect data from school staff and/or parents. This would be a marketing project with a school as context. As another example: you could do a project about efficiencies and waiting times in hospitals and analyse de-identified data about waiting times and staff availability and interview management. This would then be a logistics project with a hospital as its context. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 19 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Designing the project When designing your project you need to ensure to minimise the ethical risk to participants (i.e. informants, interviewees, members of a focus group, respondents to a questionnaire survey). For all projects (regardless of the risk category) you will need to:  obtain consent from the organisation before sending the proposal to AIB  obtain consent from participants before involving them in data collection. In addition, when you have a ‘low risk’ project (i.e. the project may cause some discomfort for participants), you are obliged to:  identify the specific ethical research issues relating to your individual project  commit to taking particular care during your research to manage the potential for participant discomfort and to treat your participants and the information they provide in an ethical manner. Please note that AIB will only approve ‘low risk’, ‘no risk’ or ‘negligible risk’ projects – as defined by the (Australian) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Collecting the data Data is pieces of information, i.e. the content of what people say in interviews, in focus groups or write in survey questionnaires. When collecting data it is important to:  obtain consent from all participants who participate in your research  make participants feel at ease while conducting the interview/focus group  allow participants to refuse to answer a question, to leave the room or to finish their participation altogether  inform participants if you are recording the interview/focus group and obtain their consent to do so. AIB will only approve projects which collect data directly from people who clearly and genuinely are able to give informed consent to their participation. This means that AIB will not approve, for instance, surveys or interviews with children, the elderly, people with disabilities, patients, etc. Securing the data After having collected data, you are responsible for the security and confidentiality of the information you have collected. You must ensure to:  store the data safely and securely  use the data only for the purpose of the research (as consented to by the organisation and by the participant). Writing the report When writing your project report you need to keep in mind the need for confidentiality of your research participants and the information they provided to you. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 20 729PROJ Project Learning Materials When writing the project report it is important to:  Include a section relating to ethics of the research demonstrating your awareness of ethical issues and explaining how ethical issues were addressed in your project.  Honour any specific requests for privacy and confidentiality made by the organisation or by participants.  Ensure participants are not readily identifiable (for instance by using numbers or codes for individual participants).  De-personalise quotes which may be sensitive (again, by using numbers or codes for the people being quoted). 6.4 Obtaining ethics approval for the project Your project is assessed for ethics approval when you submit the project proposal. It is your (i.e. the student’s) responsibility to ensure that your project meets AIB ethics requirements for the Project. As mentioned before, whether you are based in Australia or not, all AIB Projects must meet the ethical research requirements of Australia. If you are based outside Australia, you may need to meet the ethical research requirements of the second country as well. In order to enable ethics assessment, you are required to do the following when submitting your project proposal:  Include a written section about the Ethical Conduct of Research, demonstrating your awareness of ethical research issues and showing how you will ensure that your Project’s research is conducted ethically.  Submit various documents relating to the ethical dimension of your project. These documents include: o Research ethics sheet (available in Appendix E) o Copy of proposed interview questions or proposed survey questionnaire o Organisation consent form o Individual consent form. Please note that copies of questionnaires and consent forms need to be included as Appendices. Ethics approval is assessed on the basis of the information contained in your project proposal and in the ethics documentation submitted together with the project proposal. 7. How to structure the project proposal Your project proposal must cover all the items explained below. The length of the project proposal is 1500 words (plus or minus 10%). ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 21 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Please note that you must follow all the usual rules detailed in the AIB Style Guide including guidelines regarding citing and referencing. An example of a project proposal is attached in Appendix F. You may wish to refer to the example as you work through the materials. It is highly recommended that you do so. 7.1 Sections of the project proposal The project proposal should be written in report format. The key sections of the project proposal are similar to the standard report sections (as detailed in the AIB Style Guide). All main project proposal sections and sub-sections are numbered. Specific sections customised to the context of the project proposal are: 7.2 Content within each Project Proposal section Title/Topic page State your proposed project topic title. It should be descriptive of the focus and concise. Refer to Appendix A for examples of project titles used by previous MBA students. Please include: word count, student name, student number, subject title and AQF level. Introduction This section of the project proposal has two parts: Background Provide brief background information about the organisation that is the site of your research. Title page – Please include:  Word count  Student name  Student number  Subject title  AQF level Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Focus for the study 3. Project related literature summary 4. Planned research methodology 5. Ethical considerations 6. Schedule for completion References Appendices ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 22 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Project research problem Establish the need for your study by describing the problem addressed by your project and any related issues in the area that you intend to research. Focus for the study This section has three parts: Purpose of research project Provide a clear and succinct statement of the purpose of your research. Research questions List your research questions. Your research questions (usually ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘why’ or ‘what if’) should number about 4–6 so that the focus of your study is manageable. These research questions should not be so broad that they will demand too many resources, nor should they be so narrow as to be of insufficient substance. Also, they should not be too controversial because of sensitivities that may be aroused as a result of doing the research. Refer to the ‘Goldilocks test’ referred to in the above section entitled ‘How to choose a project’. The purpose of your study is to discover the answers to these research questions. Consider carefully what research questions you will ask, as these research questions will drive your data collection and analysis. Significance of the project Indicate the outcomes you hope to achieve for policy and/or practice in your organisation from this research. Project related literature summary This section has two parts: MBA discipline area of this project Because the project should cover a subject area of your degree studies, the connection to the background of your degree studies must first be explained. For example, if you are researching advertising, explain how it is part of the promotion mix. If you are doing research on recruiting in a firm, explain how recruiting fits into the complete Human Resource Management (HRM) function. As indicated above, please note, if you are undertaking your MBA in an area of specialisation, the Project must be on a topic within that specialisation. Review of some literature related to this project Next, indicate your initial understanding of the project topic based on a review of the literature. Your review does not have to be extensive for the proposal; however, you should have done an initial survey of the literature to establish your directions. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 23 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Planned research methodology This section has two parts: Method Describe the research methodology you plan to use, and why it is the most suitable for answering your particular research questions. This could, for example, be the case research method or the action research method. Data collection In order to answer the research questions you will need to collect data. Describe here the secondary data sources you will use. Are there specific published materials that can be used to provide some background and form the foundations of your research? There may be government, trade, industry or workplace resources you can access. Also, explain the primary data you plan to obtain and the data collection methods you will employ such as observation, surveys, interviews and focus groups. What questions will you be asking and which people or organisations will you involve? Ethical considerations This section can be quite short if the risk profile of the project is ‘no risk’ or ‘low risk’. The section has three or four parts (depending on the risk category of the project): Demonstrate awareness Demonstrate your understanding that you are required to comply with Australia’s national guidelines about ethical conduct of research. You could do this by referring to these learning materials and/or to the National statement on ethical conduct in human research. See: https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/book/national-statement-ethical-conduct-human-research. Address standard ethics issues Mention the standard ethics issues relating to research projects (confidentiality, privacy, basic rights of participants) and what you are doing to manage these issues. You need to explain that, in order to ensure ethical research conduct, you will:  obtain consent from all participants  respect any additional requests for privacy and confidentiality identified by individual participants  store information securely  de-identify the source of specific pieces of information in the final report. Address additional ethics issues (where relevant) Identify the additional ethics issues specifically relating to your particular project. Especially if your project falls in the ‘low risk’ (rather than the ‘no’ or ‘negligible risk’) category, you must highlight the fact that you are aware of the potential for discomfort among your participants. You will have to also explain what you are doing to minimise discomfort. For instance, you may want to enable participants to opt out of the research, to not answer questions, to leave the room or to stop their participation at any time. Also, you may plan to ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 24 729PROJ Project Learning Materials draft your interview questions carefully so that you show sensitivity to the participants in order to minimise discomfort. Use of consent forms Mention that you have obtained consent from the organisation to undertake the project and append the signed consent form with the project proposal. Explain that you will be arranging for each interviewee or respondent to sign the research consent forms (as provided in Appendix C) and that you will include those forms as an appendix to your project report. Schedule for completion Identify the tasks involved in the project and the stages/times for their completion. It is useful to include a schedule or Gantt chart which shows the planned research activities and timelines. Label your chart and provide a title for the diagram (e.g. ‘Figure 1 – Timeline for project completion’). References List references that you have consulted thus far, and that you have cited in the text of the project proposal. Refer to your AIB Style Guide to ensure you have referenced correctly. Appendices Use appendices to display documents that are relevant to your project proposal, but would interrupt the flow of your project proposal if they were included in the main text. You may include, for example, explanatory information about the background of your study, pilot study material, or questions for interviews. 7.3 Use of project proposal feedback form It is very important for you to remember that your project proposal must be evaluated and approved by AIB before you can proceed to undertake the research required for the project and write up your project report. AIB assessors will use the project proposal feedback form (which is reproduced in Appendix D) to determine whether your project proposal can be approved or not approved. This feedback form includes a checklist covering the key sections of structure of the project proposal as detailed above. In addition, the checklist highlights the importance of three additional things that you must take into account, namely:  AIB Style Guide – ensure that you carefully review the AIB Style Guide and follow all the conventions (e.g. margin, fonts, line spacing). In particular, ensure that you use the correct quoting and referencing method otherwise you may be found guilty of plagiarism which carries strict penalties.  Spelling and grammar – ensure that you have used correct spelling and grammar in your Project Proposal by proof reading the document yourself, using the spell checker in Word and/or asking a friend to proofread the document for you. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 25 729PROJ Project Learning Materials  Structure – lastly, you should ensure that your project proposal has a sound structure with connections and a logical flow. There should be a logical sequence and connections between the sections so that the project proposal develops almost like a story. Please pay particular attention to the checklist to ensure that your project proposal will meet the requirements for approval. If not, you will be required to correct and re-submit the project proposal. R THE 8. How to structure the project report This section of the materials describes the structure of the project report. Note that an example project report is included in Appendix G. The total length of the project report is 5500 words (plus or minus 10%). Please monitor the word limit because you will be penalised if you go under or over the limit (as detailed in the AIB Assessment Policy available on the website). This word limit does not include your title/cover page, the executive summary, table of contents, list of references, or appendices. So, you may decide to place into the appendices any supporting material that exceeds the word limit. However, a reader should not have to look at an appendix to understand the main thrust of the points you are making in your project report. Make sure all your main points are in the body of your project report and then refer the reader to the appendices for detail. (Note that relevant supporting material in these appendices that demonstrates thoughtful application of concepts could help your mark.) 8.1 Sections of the project report The broad structure and key sections of the project report are shown on the following page: ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 26 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 8.2 Content for each section of the project report Remember to number each main section and sub-section of your project report. Title/Topic page The title of the Project Report can be the same as the title of the project proposal; however, you may wish to modify the title based on feedback (on the project proposal) from the assessor so that the title better reflects your research. The title itself should capture the essence of the research, perhaps by drawing on parts of the research question(s) or the intended impact of the project. The title should not be too long; 10 words or less is usually quite sufficient. Executive summary The executive summary is written after the first draft of the project is complete. The executive summary is usually about 200 words in length and should cover the following:  A short theme sentence to orient the reader  What was the purpose of the project?  Why did you do it, why is it important?  What did you do and what happened? (research methodology, data collection and data analysis)  What were the results or findings (patterns or correlations in the data)? Title page Executive summary Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions 2.1 Literature overview 2.2 Case organisation 2.3 Research questions 3. Research methodology 3.1 Method 3.2 Data collection 3.3 Ethical considerations 4. Presentation of findings 4.1 Analysing the data 4.2 Answering the research questions 5. Implications and recommendations 6. Conclusion References Appendices ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 27 729PROJ Project Learning Materials  What are the implications and what is your work good for (for example, how does it confirm or disconfirm the literature, and what are the recommendations for management practice or for government policy)? The implications in the executive summary can often be summarised in one short sentence; for example, that managers in your local country or region can use the findings from your project report to improve their practices. Note that the executive summary should not contain any citations or refer to references. Citations appear only in the body of the report. Introduction The introduction consists of several paragraphs and should not take up more than 1.5 pages of your project report (using the line spacing and font required as listed in the AIB Style Guide). The Introduction should cover five main items: 1. Establish the background field (the aspect of your degree studies that this project will focus on), and assert its significant position in theory or practice 2. Summarise previous research (only one or two brief paragraphs at the most) 3. Indicate gaps, inconsistencies or controversies, and why they are important 4. State the purpose of the present research (to address bullet-point 3), state briefly the main aspects of how data was collected and analysed, and conclusions of the research (and advanced students may add a sentence about their contributions (relating to bullet-point 3) 5. Outline of the project report. Firstly, state what the background field is; this is usually one of the topics in one of your degree subjects such as ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports. Secondly, very briefly summarise previous research about that established topic (as has been noted in the textbook and in some recent journal articles). Then, point out that there is a gap, inconsistency or controversy about an issue within that established field. For your project, the gap usually appears where there has been little research about how managers in your country or region actually apply the concepts. For example, the gap could be how ecotourism is done in Singapore or South Australia, the characteristics of entrepreneurs in a manufacturing industry in Ghana, or how financial statements are used in Vietnam. If you can, you might mention that this gap is an important one because the area is significant, with supporting statements such as: ecotourism is growing in Singapore; entrepreneurship is critical for the development of Ghana; free enterprise is growing fast in Vietnam. From there, at about the third or fourth paragraph of the Introduction, start a new paragraph by stating your research purpose. For example, ‘The purpose of this research is to explore how one ecotourism operator in Singapore actually manages a small entrepreneurial ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 28 729PROJ Project Learning Materials business’, or ‘The purpose of this research is to identify the four main characteristics of entrepreneurs in Ghana’. Then, briefly describe some key aspects of your research, and in one sentence, describe what your main findings were (to entice the reader to keep reading on). The final paragraph of the Introduction outlines the structure of the project report, starting with the sentence, ‘This report has … (four, five or six) sections after this Introduction’. In this final paragraph you should then give a brief summary of the sections – no more than one sentence per section. Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions The second section of your project report will orient the reader by describing the background of the research project. This section (Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions) will take up about three or four pages. There are three parts of this section: Literature overview: <.. background field..> First, discuss some literature about the background field like ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports. You provided one or two paragraphs about this in the Introduction but here you provide more evidence that you have read the literature (especially the textbook) and some journal articles and articles from the Internet. Demonstrate that you understand the main concepts, relevant principles and theories. This discussion of the literature does not need to be very long – a page may be sufficient although advanced students might use two or three pages. A definition of the core terms would be a minimum; and then a very brief description of some of the main themes in the literature about the field, usually starting at a very broad level and then narrowing it down. For example, if the field was ecotourism, start by defining the term and selecting the definition you prefer for your project report from among the various alternatives. From there, start at a broad level by saying that the term of ecotourism covers a wide range of tourism from reef activities through bushwalking to nature-based attractions like zoos. Finally, describe the narrow aspect of ecotourism explored by your project report, for example, reef activities. The case: <..your organisation..> The second part of this section describes the organisation that is the subject of the study. Discuss its origins, how it became involved with the business issues in question (the research problem), what it needs to address (the research questions), and why the focus of the study is important to this organisation (the significance of the project). For example, this section may describe how a reef resort was established and how it has grown, how casinos are being developed in Singapore, how a small software company was established in Adelaide, or how a hotel is operating in Ho Chi Minh City. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 29 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Research questions The third part of the section is the culmination of the previous parts of the section. It provides the link between literature and your case organisation and the rest of your project report. List the research questions you are addressing in the project report. Research methodology This section of the project report consists of the following parts. Research method Here you describe what research methodology you used to conduct your study. Did you use exploratory or explanatory research? Did you use a qualitative or quantitative approach? Did you use action research methodology or case research methodology? Why did you make these choices; why are your choices appropriate for your Project? Give citations for your research methodologies. Your textbook for the project is the bare minimum reference (see Section 2: How to choose a project); you could also cite other sources of information about how to collect data (e.g. from the recommended readings). Data collection You must provide precise details of the way in which you collected your data. You must describe the data collection methods used (such as the use of interviews, focus groups or a questionnaire survey) with references to the textbook and other sources to show that the methods were applied correctly. Explain how your interview or survey questions are related to the focus and objectives of the Project. You must include a copy of the interview questions or the survey questionnaire in an appendix to the Project Report. Describe how many interviews were done and who was involved. Ethical considerations Demonstrate your awareness of ethical issues and explain how ethical issues were addressed in your project. Mention that you obtained ethics approval as part of the approval for your project proposal; mention that you obtained consent from participants (through organisational and individual research consent forms and that copies of these are included in an appendix. Mention that you are de-personalising any quotes which may be sensitive (by using numbers or codes for the people being quoted). Presentation of findings In this section, look at the data, analyse it and describe the findings. It is often useful to separate analysis from findings. Analysing the data Describe the outcome of your data analysis. What does the data suggest that is going on? What are the activities, processes and events that are happening? Describe your findings based on the data analysis. When reporting what the data showed, start with the overall ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 30 729PROJ Project Learning Materials picture first and then go into the details; that is, give the forest before describing the trees in the forest. When describing information from interviews first give the main finding in your own words and then occasionally use a quotation from an interviewee to prove to the reader that your interpretation is correct. Answering the research questions Answer your research questions one after the other. Based on the data collected, present the answer to each research question one at a time in separate paragraphs. For example, the first paragraph will cover the answer to the first research question; the second paragraph will provide the answer to the second research question; the third paragraph will include the conclusion about your third research question. Important note: Do not refer to the literature or compare your findings with what is in the literature while you are analysing data and presenting findings in this section. The linkages back to literature are identified in the recommendations section, not in this section. Implications and recommendations What are the three or four main learning points or principles that you and the reader can take away and apply in other situations in the future? In this section, look at the implications of your findings and make recommendations for three different targets:  the literature, that is, ideas described in your textbooks and articles  managers in the case organisation  other managers or other organisations. First, take a step back and explain how your findings relate back to the literature, that is, to your textbook or to the articles that you have cited earlier. Do your findings confirm existing ideas already written about? Did you find something new that could now be explored further by other researchers? Secondly, what do you recommend that managers in your case(s) do in the future? What advice do you have based on the findings of your research? Finally, what are the implications of all that you have done, for other managers and for policy makers in your country or region? What can other managers, other organisations and other industries learn from your findings? These implications for other managers may often be the same as for the managers in the case(s) you investigated, but if the case is in an unusual industry or has an unusual structure or strategy, you may be able to develop some additional recommendations. Remember that the assessor will look at the recommendations and their justification in your project report. Hence, identify clearly in this section what are the future actions you recommend should be done by managers and policy makers in your country or region. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 31 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Conclusion In this final project report section, you should give a summary statement addressing and resolving the research problem. Identify the contribution made by your project report and tie up the whole package to show that the purpose of the project report (as set out in the Introduction) has been achieved. Then, you should identify challenges or issues that remain unresolved. Note that apart from the challenges or issues that remain unresolved, there should not be any new concepts or ideas suddenly introduced in the conclusion. The conclusion merely ties everything that has been mentioned before into one concise package. Thus, the conclusion section is rarely longer than one page or so in length. References and Appendices Finally, list your references and include your appendices. Please note that as a guide a 5500 word project report would need approximately 20–25 relevant references from different sources. These should consist of a large proportion of relevant refereed academic journal articles and references from other credible sources such as books and company documents. Please note that your grade will be adversely affected if your project report contains no/poor citations and/or reference list. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 32 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Reference List for the MBA Project Learning Materials Carson, D, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K & Perry, C 2001, Qualitative research in marketing, Sage, London. Saunders, M, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2016, Research methods for business students, 7th edn, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow. Yin, RK 2014, Case study research: design and methods, 5th edn, SAGE Publications. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 33 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX A: Example project topics Note: These are topics of actual MBA projects previously completed by AIB MBA candidates. Entrepreneurship The effect of the franchisor-franchisee relationship on business productivity and profit at XXX store in South Australia. The relationship between entrepreneurial management and subsequent company growth – a case study of XXX firm's performance Essentials of an entrepreneur in handling business growth wall – a case study of XXX organisation Building a sustainable future through corporate entrepreneurship at XXX organisation Starting a practice: The challenges of new venture creation in professional veterinary services in urban Australia A critical evaluation of XXX initiatives for developing a culture of intrapreneurial growth. Climbing the growth wall: A study of options available to XXX organisation Financial Management Generating public financing for an independent Micro-cap mining company: a case study The conundrum of a publicly listed company: Book Value versus Market Value An SME in a developing country as an M&A target for a company from a developed nation What are the key attributes that investors seek in investment home loan products and does this present a gap opportunity in the XXX organisation product range? Review of XXX organisation's preparations for ASX listing and the resulting outcomes The impact of the global financial crisis on the financial ratios of XXX organisation and its effects on the share price. An explanatory study into factors affecting the optimisation of a project portfolio: A case study of XXX organisation. Issus of trading in the energy derivative: A case study of XXX organisation. Financial Performance of an Islamic and a conventional bank : A Comparative Study of banking in Malaysia A study of the commercial return on Investment to XXX organisation of investing in achieving a Gender Diverse workforce Human Resource Management A critical evaluation of succession planning, talent management and development strategies and the implementation of these programs within XXX organisation. Investigating the Effects of E-Learning on Staff Development for Improved Compliance of a Registered Training Organisation Insights into recruitment and succession planning in SMEs that employ expatriates in Abu Dhabi: A case study of XXX organisation The characteristics of an ideal performance management system: a critical review of how performance management occurs within XXX organisation Motivating older workers to learn - a case study of XXX organisation A study to discover the causes and effects of Occupational Stress within a department of XXX organisation Managing the future success of franchise organisations: A case study of Succession Planning within XXX organisation A study of the effects of management of emotional intelligence (EQ) training on staff engagement levels in a local government organisation Understanding the expectations of employees in Public Practice accounting firms to ensure effective retention and succession planning strategies at XXX organisation. Logistics and Supply Chain Mgt A study of the operations processes and waste reduction opportunities in the JIS dependent production system of XXX organisation. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 34 729PROJ Project Learning Materials An evaluation of performance problems in the XXX organisation supply chain and proposed solutions. Investigation of supply chain issues faced by XXX organisation while operating in China. Identification of key success factors for process re-engineering: a case study with XXX organisation Managing Maintenance Spares Inventory at a Remote Site of XXX mining company A critical evaluation of the implementation of total quality management (TQM) at XXX organisation Implementing collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment to synchronize the supply chain at XXX organisation An investigation of lean production practices at XXX organisation Humanitarian supply chain design: A case study of XXX not-for-profit organisation Marketing Assessing service quality of a private college in Malaysia The effect of branding and point-of-sale activities on buyer behaviour: A case study of four XXX brands inside hypermarkets in the UAE A critical evaluation of the pricing strategies and policies in XXX organisation Digital Marketing and the Effect on Traditional Retail Market Segmentation and Strategy Formulation for XXX organisation Going Asia – XXX organisation's international marketing strategy to attract Asian consumers An analysis of Generations Y's decision making influences when selecting XXX organisation as their preferred superannuation provider Streamlining media management at XXX organisation to improve brand image Critical evaluation of the role of social media in the marketing strategy of XXX organisation Tourism and Hospitality Management Arrival experience of guests at the front office in hotel: improving customer service at XXX hotel The impact of inflation on Singapore’s tourism sector: A case study of XXX organisation How does a customer database improve the guest experience in a Dublin five star hotel Does activity-based costing give hotel restaurants a competitive edge? A case study of XXX hotel Breaking into China - how can an Australian adventure tour operator capitalise on the emergence of the Chinese outbound traveller? Generic How does strategic management in Emergency Services organisations (ESOs) differ from other organisations? A case study of XXX emergency services organisation A preliminary analysis of the feasibility of an ultra-long-range aircraft service for XXX airlines A case study of organisation wide project management system understanding within XXX organisation Reporting and reflecting on corporate social responsibility in the hospitality industry – A case study of a 5-star hotel in Kuala Lumpur A study of causal relationship between business process management maturity level and the successful delivery of ICT projects at XXX organisation A critical review of business strategies to meet financial targets at XXX organisation in regional NSW Entering the software development industry: What are the barriers to entry and key success factors? Analysis of yield management: Increasing profits for XXX Resort and Spa ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 35 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX B: How to conduct the interview Detail about good interviewing techniques is provided below. This information is an extract from one of the recommended texts listed in the Subject Overview. The extract comes from: Carson, D, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K & Perry, C 2001, Qualitative research in marketing, Sage, London. Introduction Interview data is a major source of information for many qualitative researchers. Thus this section will introduce some general principles of interviewing that can be used in the interviews in case studies. In depth interviewing Whatever an interview’s form, its purpose is to get inside someone’s head and ‘enter into the other person’s perspective’ (Patton 1990, p. 278) to find out things like feelings, memories and interpretations that we cannot observe or discover in other ways. Thus, the researcher should always be careful of imposing his or her own perspective on to the person being interviewed. Despite this single, overriding purpose, in-depth interviews range in form along a continuum. At one end, they can be almost like an informal conversation with a friend as in constructivist research that explores a person’s perceptions because they are interesting in themselves. These interviews have virtually no structure or a direction placed on them by the interviewer for they are a constructivist research where the main aim is to explore the internal reality of the interviewee. Interviews in an ethnographic study would be examples of this sort of interview. At the other end of the continuum, interviews can be more structured and directed, like a job interview for instance, and are a form of realism research where perceptions are interesting not for themselves but for the picture that they present of an external reality. Interviews conducted in case study research would be examples of this form of interview. We will try to assemble some principles of in depth interviewing that can be used along most of this continuum of forms of interviews. Planning the interview Most interviews are planned. Firstly, the overall objective of the interview should be sorted out within the context of the whole project. For example, it may be to explore perceptions about ‘the culture of beer consumption in Australia’ or ‘how international marketing relationships are established, maintained and terminated’. Secondly, an interview guide or protocol is then written as a memory jogger during the interview for the researcher. This interview guide will be about some general, open-ended interview topics that address the overall objective, such as ‘what is the role of beer in Australian life?’ In constructivist research or in the early stages of a research project, there may be only one or two of these general topics. But in realism research or towards the end of a research project when more about the overall phenomenon is known by the researcher and he or she merely wants to have that knowledge confirmed by the interviewee, there ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 36 729PROJ Project Learning Materials may be ten or more of these general topics. During the interview, these topics do not have to be addressed in the order they are written on the interview guide and so there is no need for alarm if the discussion jumps about the topics. Thirdly, within each of these general topics, there may be more particular probe questions that are raised only after the general topic has been raised and if the interviewee has not raised or discussed them in his or her answer to the more general question; for example, ‘How much beer have you drunk in the last month?’ Where? When? With whom? And why?’ Note that these general topics and associated probe questions may not have to be explicitly raised in the interview. With skill and luck, a researcher may be able to get the interviewee involved in a conversation rather than an interview, and the conversation will cover the general topics and associated probe questions without the interviewee knowing they were planned to be raised. Techniques to facilitate this conversation are outlined below. In brief, in a good interview, the questions are often answered before they have to be directly asked. Finally, the site for the interview must be selected. It should if possible be familiar to the interviewees to set them at ease, be quiet, and be able to be closed off from office traffic. To more easily build rapport, chairs should be the same height for the researcher and the interviewee. By the way, the researcher should dress appropriately to build rapport. For example, do not wear a suit to an interview in factory and do wear a suit to an interview in head office. Starting the interview After normal greetings and some chit chat about the weather or the journey to the interview, the researcher should begin the interview when he or she feels the interviewee is ready. Because the researcher expects the interviewee to be honest and open with them, the researcher should try to be the same with them. So the interview starts with a very brief outline of the purpose of the research to assure the interviewee that it is important and has some benefit for them (and then never raise that purpose again). Because informed consent to be interviewed is now a normal ethics requirement for research, confidentiality of the data and of the interviewee in the report should be mentioned, and agreement to be interviewed should be confirmed. Next, permission is asked to take notes and to use a tape recorder. If permission is granted, the tape recorder is brought out of the briefcase and the interviewee showed how he or she can push the ‘pause’ button whenever they like. The interviewee is asked if they would like a copy of a report of the study. Finally, the interviewee is asked if they have any questions or want anything clarified before the interview begins. Note that some authors do not favour the use of voice recorders usually because they distract both the interviewee and the researcher during the interview (for example, Wolcott 1990; Dick 1990; Lincoln & Guba 1985). Some interviewees do not like a voice recorder to be used. However, some researchers strongly recommend their use and the transcription of the recorded information. Others are between these two extreme positions, thinking that it is merely ‘a matter of preference’ (Yin 1994, p. 86). ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 37 729PROJ Project Learning Materials We ourselves usually prefer to try to record interviews (but also take good notes in case background noise drowns out the interview or the recorder does not work – be ready for anything, including unforeseen technical problems). The record of an interview is then played back within an hour of the interview in the summary making stage. We also usually make a transcription of the voice recordings of the first two or three interviews because they reveal how bad the notes or even the questions were, and so they improve the note taking and the questioning in later interviews. Transcription of these early interviews could almost be viewed as a necessity. However, for some researchers, the costs of transcription in time of later interviews, or in money for someone else to do the transcription (it usually takes about four to five hours of transcription per hour of interview) often means that transcription is a luxury they cannot afford. That is, the voice recorder is merely played back to check the handwritten notes of the interview. Managing the interview Now the interview proper can begin. The first question should be very broad and be in terms that the interviewee would use, for example, ‘How do you do international business?’ I often ask them to ‘please tell me the story of your experiences in [whatever the research is about]’ because they do not have to think about the answer or wonder if their answer is precisely what was behind the question – they can just start telling a story which anyone can do. After the opening question, the researcher asks about the general topics in the interview guide and their associated probe questions, always keeping the answers flowing in the ways described next. Throughout the interview, the researcher follows the rules of good interviewing. He or she:  Uses small encouragers like a murmur of understanding or ‘yes?’,  Maintains eye contact and smiles expectantly during pauses as if expecting the interviewee to continue;  Uses the active listening technique of feeding back answers in the researcher’s own words to check his or her own understanding and to remind the interviewee that what they are saying is very interesting, for example, ‘You mean that price is not as important as distribution?’, and  Asks non-directive questions like ‘Could you please elaborate?’, ‘Can you give me an example?’ and “You mentioned that…?’ Moreover, the researcher:  Uses the interviewee’s terms rather than academic ones, for example, ‘partnerships’ rather than ‘strategic alliances’;  Allows the interviewee’s interests and concerns to decide the order in which the general topics and their associated probe questions are discussed, if the interviewee seems to want to talk about them before the researcher finds it in the interview guide;  Goes from the general to the particular whenever possible to ensure the interviewee’s perspective is not overruled by the researchers’;  Never interrupts an answer,  Never asks leading questions that imply what answer is most acceptable to the researcher. For example, ‘There is a lot of beer drunk around here – do you drink much?’ ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 38 729PROJ Project Learning Materials  Never introduces his or her own ideas into the interview,  Never evaluates an answer, not even by saying ‘That is interesting’ for example, because doing so will start pointing the interviewee away from his or her own perspective towards the researcher’s perspective; and  Never worries about a ‘pregnant’ pause – the researcher lets the interviewee fill the pause by appearing to be writing some notes. At the end, the researcher asks if there are any other points that could have been raised and remembers to thank the interviewee for their precious time. Soon afterwards and when he or she is some distance from the site of the interview, the researcher jots down some memory-joggers about the interview like its date and duration, the clothes the interviewee was wearing, how often they were interrupted, what the person’s desk was like, what awards were on the wall, and so on. Analysing the data So now we have masses of words in notes or typescripts. How do we analyse all this stuff? Most qualitative researchers use some form of content analysis to analyse their data, that is, they code groups of words in their transcripts into categories. These categories usually are determined from the research questions that were the starting point for the research. Examples of codes for research about marketing strategy would be: ‘cost leader’, ‘differentiator’ and ‘focus’, and the segments or ‘chunks’ of the transcript which are coded could be phrases, sentences or paragraphs. In effect, these codes are keys to organising the mass of data into patterns -‘Codes are used to retrieve and organise the chunks… The organising part will entail some system for categorising the various chunks, so that the researcher can quickly find, pull out, and cluster all the segments relating to a particular question, hypothesis, concept, or theme’ (Miles & Huberman 1994, p. 57). Two steps are usually involved in content analysis:  A first pass simply assigns codes to words or segments of words;  A second pass makes comparisons and contrasts between the coded material. The first step is sometimes called ‘axial coding’ and the second called ‘selective coding’ (Neuman 1994, pp. 408–409). In very constructivist research like grounded theory or ethnography, another pass called the ‘open’ pass precedes these two passes; in the open pass, the initial codes are found within the data itself. But for many researchers with interview data, most of the codes are known before the data is looked at, for they are based on the general topics and their associated probe questions in the interview guide. So let us assume that the first coding pass is the axial pass. In this axial coding pass through the data, the researcher writes the code against each paragraph or sentence, and possibly writes additional notes in the margin. New codes or new ideas may emerge during this pass, but the emphasis should be on the original list of codes. Then in the second, selective coding pass through the data, the researcher tries to ‘select’ situations that illustrate themes and makes comparisons and contrasts after most or all data collection is complete. For example, a researcher studying life in an office might decide to ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 39 729PROJ Project Learning Materials make gender relations a major theme. In selective coding he goes through his field notes looking for differences in how men and women talk about dating, engagements, weddings, divorce, extramarital affairs, or husband-wife relations. The aim is to make generalisations about these topics that summarise the similarities and differences between what people are saying. Summary We do interviews to find the perspectives inside someone’s head. This is no easy task and each person we interview will be a bit different. But if we plan for the interview, start and flow it with skill, and analyse it with care, we will find out very interesting things for our research projects. To illustrate this, consider how the general principles above can be applied in the particular form of interviewing called convergent interviewing. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 40 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX C: Research consent forms There are two types of consent forms:  Organisation consent – this must be obtained when you intend to use an organisation as your site of research and to obtain information about that organisation. It may be your employer organisation or another organisation of your choice. The consent form must be completed and signed by a senior person in the organisation who has the authority to provide such consent on behalf of the organisation. If your research involves obtaining information from more than one organisation, you must ensure that you obtain such consent forms for each organisation.  Individual consent – this must be obtained when you intend to interview or otherwise obtain information from individuals as part of your research. Each individual that you interview or otherwise obtain information from must complete and sign the form. If your research involves data collection through a mass consumer survey, where respondents are randomly selected and not personally identified, completion of individual consent forms is not required. Organisation and individual consent forms are provided on the following pages. You must ensure you use these consent forms when obtaining consent from organisations or individuals. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 41 729PROJ Project Learning Materials ORGANISATION CONSENT I, ___________________________________________________________________ of___________________________________________________________________ understand that _______________________________________________________ is a student at the Australian Institute of Business (AIB). I further understand that the student has to complete a research project as part of the student’s studies with AIB and that the student wishes to base the research project on my organisation named below. Name of organisation: ................................................................................................................... My consent is subject to the following conditions, which I insert in my own handwriting: I hereby consent to the student basing their research project on my organisation and confirm that I am authorised to grant this consent on behalf of the organisation. I understand that the information obtained by the student about my organisation will be kept strictly confidential and only viewed by the student, the project examiners and essential AIB staff, except where I have otherwise granted consent in writing. Respondent’s signature: __________________________________________ Respondent’s job title: __________________________________________ Date of consent: __________________________________________ ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 42 729PROJ Project Learning Materials INDIVIDUAL CONSENT I, __________________________________________________________________________ of__________________________________________________________________________ understand that _____________________________________________________________ is a student at the Australian Institute of Business (AIB). I further understand that the student has to complete a research project as part of the student’s studies with AIB and that the student wishes to use data from interviews with me for the purposes of the research. I hereby consent to the student using data from interviews with me for the purposes of the research. My consent is subject to the following conditions, which I insert in my own handwriting: I understand that the information obtained by the student from me will be kept strictly confidential and only viewed by the student, the project examiners and essential AIB staff, except where I have otherwise granted consent in writing. I accept that my participation in this research is voluntary and that I may withdraw my consent to participate at any time. Respondent’s signature: __________________________________________ Respondent’s job title: __________________________________________ Date of consent: __________________________________________ ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 43 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX D: Project proposal feedback form (To be completed by the assessor) AIB student ID number: Student name: Course/specialisation: Introduction Background information provided Research problem clearly articulated / defined Focus for the study Research purpose stated Appropriate research questions identified Significance of project identified Project is feasible Project related literature summary Connection to an aspect of MBA studies Alignment with MBA specialisation (not required for MBA generic) Literature cited Literature aligned with project title and with problem statement Research methodology Research method explained and justified Data collection methods explained and justified Collection of primary data included Questions to be asked from participants stated Research approvals obtained Ethical considerations Ethics issues identified Use of consent forms explained Research Ethics Sheet completed Schedule for completion Research schedule or Gantt chart included Schedule is feasible Style Guide Margins, line spacing and fonts Dates and numbers Author-date referencing Sourcing and quotations Labelling of figures, diagrams, tables List of references English Spelling Grammar Structure and flow Title is on the first page Table of Contents Logical structure Connections between sections Easy to read Outcome: Approved Not Approved Comments ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 44 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX E: Project proposal research ethics sheet (to be completed by the student) AIB student ID number: Student name: Course/specialisation: Project title: Research ethics assessment outcome: (to be completed by the assessor) Approved Not Approved Please answer the following questions, read the ethics declaration and submit with the project proposal. Note that AIB will only approve ‘no risk’, ‘negligible risk’ or ‘low risk’ projects – as defined by the (Australian) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Yes No RISK FACTORS o Does the project involve experiments or intrusive procedures on human subjects? o Does the project involve children or young people? o Can the project cause physical or mental harm to the participants? o Can the project cause any conflict of interest, say, where there is a dependent or unequal relationship (e.g. employer/employee or landlord/tenant) which may advantage or disadvantage an individual? o Does the project involve participants with a disability? o Does the project involve people who may be involved in illegal activities? o Does the project involve the participation of Indigenous, Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people? o Is there a risk of litigation for the participants or their organisation? o Does the project involve people who are superiors or subordinates of the researcher? ETHICAL RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS o Does the project have procedures for informed consent by the participants? o Does the project have procedures for maintaining confidentiality of the participants and information gathered? o Does the project proposal include an effective written section about ethics relating to this project? ETHICS DECLARATION By submitting this form with the project proposal, I acknowledge that I have read the ethics section in the Learning Materials, am aware of the general ethics requirements relating to research, have designed this project to meet the ethics guidelines and will conduct the project in an ethical manner. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 45 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX F: Example project proposal A critical evaluation of marketing communications across multiple channels to increase customer engagement and aid customer retention at in Singapore. Title page – Please include:  Word count  Student name  Student number  Subject title  AQF level Please Note:  With many grateful thanks to the AIB student whose project proposal forms the basis for this example!  Note that the document below is an example only. It shows the structure of a good proposal and may serve as inspiration for others.  It is not the one-and-only way of presenting a good proposal. It also does not imply that this is a proposal without fault.  The weakest part of this project proposal is the third section (Project related literature summary) which refers to two journal articles only. For information on how to write a good literature overview, see section 3 of these learning materials ‘How to write a Literature Overview’.  Please note that the following example does not necessarily adhere to the formatting and word setting requirements outlined in the AIB Style Guide. Students would need to refer to the Style Guide for the requirements. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 46 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Table of Contents Page 1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………… xx 1.1. Background 1.2. Project research problem 2. Focus for the study ……………………………………………………………………………………. xx 2.1. Purpose of the research 2.2. Research questions 2.3. Significance of the project 3. Project related literature summary …………………………………………………………… xx 4. Planned research methodology ………………………………………………………………… xx 4.1 Single case study 4.2 Primary data 4.3 Secondary data 5. Ethical considerations ………………………………………………………………………………… xx 6. Schedule for completion …………………………………………………………………………… xx References ………………………………………………………………………………………………….……. xx Appendix A - Group Interview Structure / Questions ……………………………….………. xx Appendix B - Communication Effectiveness Survey (first page only) ……….………... xx Appendix C - Organisational Research Consent (not attached) ………………….……… xx ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 47 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 1. Introduction 1.1 Background The is a K-12 international school, with 2,950 students from over 65 nations in Singapore. Our curriculum and holistic academic approach, individual focus, cultural diversity, ethos, and school culture are integral to the brand. These qualities are leveraged in all marketing materials. For the past 15 years, has enjoyed a 10 – 20% year on year growth in student numbers, allowing it to build its customer base and be the fourth largest international school in the country. 1.2 Project research problem The Singapore international school competitive landscape is changing. New schools have been granted governmental permission to enter the market, competitor marketing has increased and is intense, and (school) switching costs have decreased due to new governmental legislation. Relocation and mobility providers have also reported that the number of expats inbound into Singapore, on full expat packages, are up to 65% less than five years ago. Most companies are sending employees here on local packages – making value a critical factor in choice of schools. management is discovering that the combination of these factors are impacting customer retention – the number of customers “switching” schools is on the increase, loyalty, satisfaction and engagement is down, and profitability projections are being impacted. This switching also has a knock on effect and impacts new customer acquisition due to changes in word of mouth recommendations. This is a very real retention problem. collects customer feedback at many touch points – customer surveys at the end of each school year (exit interviews/surveys and a parent pulse survey), and on-going feedback collection. This data is used in on-going improvement efforts. In response to the changing competitive environment, preliminary retention strategies have started to emerge across divisions. Plans, however, are not cross functional and are typically silo in nature (focusing only on each person’s small areas of the business). There is no marketing communications strategy that underpins, or is a component, of retention and communication plans. Problems include: - Plans are not centric across the organisation and there is no unified approach to implementation and strategy - Plans have been formulated without sufficient analysis of the voice of the customer. Data has been analysed quantitatively, but at a superficial level. There has been insufficient quantitative analysis of open comments to look for further insight into satisfaction, and no discussions with customers (focus groups/group interviews) have been conducted/planned ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 48 729PROJ Project Learning Materials - Planned events/improvements do not have a communications strategy/ rollout plan tied to them, nor are there any plans to test for customer resonance (i.e. are they want the customer wants/needs). - There is limited understanding of the need to position messages to build relationships (relationship management) and ensure resonance with the needs of the target audience. - There are no metrics to measure customer opinion/satisfaction/engagement for each retention event. From a communications standpoint, these should include: o Engagement measurement – readership, click through rate, etc. o Message resonance with audience – satisfaction, changed opinion, actions 2. Focus for the study 2.1 Purpose of research project The purpose of this project is to evaluate the current marketing communications strategies (channels and effectiveness, message resonance) at , and how an integrated and cross functional approach to marketing communications (relationship marketing approach/focus) and message resonance, with a focus on electronic communications and channels, across the organisation will enhance customer satisfaction and aid customer retention and deliver a competitive advantage and allow to achieve its growth goals. This project will demonstrate the importance of using the voice of the customer in formulating key messages, and in evaluating if these messages are resonating with the needs of the audience, with an end goal of building engagement/loyalty. Key areas of investigation will be:  The current marketing communications strategies/practices across  Key communication channels (vehicles, frequency, message resonance, suitability)  Metrics/measures in place to monitor effectiveness  Marketing communications strategy improvements and customer satisfaction and retention 2.2 Research questions The following questions will be addressed in this research: 1. What do our customers perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the current marketing communications channels/vehicles at ? 2. Do our customers feel that messages are relevant to them and address their questions/needs? Are messages easy to interpret/understand? 3. Why should adopt a marketing communications strategy that focuses on message resonance organisation wide? 4. How can the school benefit from implementing suggested improvements in marketing communications across the organisation? Comment [Author12]: Notice the structure of this section. In the first paragraph, it is possible to understand immediately what the research problem is in relation to the subject of the case study, which is the school. It is general, yet very concise and to the point. The succeeding paragraphs focus increasingly on the more specific aspects of the research problem, and all these paragraphs are linked together in a logical structure. Comment [Author13]: When designing research questions, always ensure that they are related to and are able to address the overall research question. Furthermore, ensure that research questions arrive at answers that are measurable. Comment [Author14]: Research questions should be open-ended, and questions 1, 3 & 4 are open-ended. An open ended question is something that could not be answered by a mere ‘yes’ or ‘no’. The one exception is question 2, which is a closed question. A better question could have been: How well do customers feel the relevance of the messages in terms of addressing their questions/needs? How easy is it to interpret or understand these messages? ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 49 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 2.3 Significance of the Project Historically, has had a transactional marketing approach, which focused on new customer acquisition – an approach, according to the US Small Business Administration and US Chamber of Commerce, which costs five to seven times more than retaining existing customers. With the change in the competitive landscape, needs to focus on relationship marketing and customer retention, and devise new ways to keep customers engaged and for them to become advocates of the service. The management of the will benefit from this study through developing an understanding of how targeted communications will aid retention plans, and how message resonance will build engagement. This project will be exploratory in nature, and aid in identifying strategies and actions that can be implemented immediately and act as an aid in customer retention strategies, and improved organisational profitability. 3. Project related literature summary The project literature summary will:  Examine ’s marketing communications strategy;  Analyse existing communication channels/vehicles and messaging and how the use of the voice of the customer can be used to facilitate desired outcomes that will aid in customer retention. Messaging and effective use of communication channels is an aspect of the Marketing Communications which forms an important part of the Marketing discipline (which is my specialisation). My understanding of the Project’s topic is based on the textbooks of the marketing subjects and an initial review of the literature. An initial review of the literature supports the project direction/investigation. Goldring (2013) quoting Sharma and Patterson, states that “the communication effectiveness of a professional services provider is one of the primary drivers of establishing a relationship commitment”, supporting the assumption that effective marketing communications and message resonance will aid retention efforts and enhance customer satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. Communication and message resonance (strategic content) are pivotal to the concept of relationship marketing – a type of marketing that focuses on customer retention. Bojei and Alwie (2010) state that “communication does influence service quality which significantly influences commitment and satisfaction, and finally leads to quality relationship. Generally, in any relationship, communication plays a significant role to ensure both parties understand each other. This is because communication leads to information sharing or participation from both parties, whereas communication quality relates to the quality of information Comment [Author15]: As noted above, this overview should contain more than 2 journal articles. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 50 729PROJ Project Learning Materials which includes accuracy, credibility adequacy and completeness of information shared by both parties.” 4. Planned research methodology 4.1 Single case study This project will be a single case study that focuses on marketing communications across the two campuses of the in Singapore. It will be a single case study because it examines a critical concern for – that of what we can do to aid customer retention. The case study will focus on the marketing communications strategies, and the current communication channels/vehicles and messaging, and their implementation across the organisation. The study will be a mixed-method study (with a predominant focus on qualitative data collection) that adopts an inductive approach. The research project will utilize both primary and secondary data for the research. The review of literature and secondary data, as well as the knowledge that comes with my working experience at , will be used to identify problems and possible themes and form the basis of the qualitative research. In order to help answer the research questions both primary and secondary data will be collected. 4.2 Primary Data An inductive approach is being adopted for this research project. As it is an exploratory study into the impact of communications on the customer, primary data collection will be predominantly qualitative (even survey data will be predominantly analysed qualitatively). 4.2.1 Data collection methods A series of semi-structured group interviews with existing customers will be the core data collection method. The voice of the customer is critical in this case study and hence data is collected from parents who are the people directly affected by the school’s marketing communication. The group interviews are important in this exploratory study, as customers (parents) will be able to express genuine opinion, which is often not captured effectively in formal questionnaires strategy (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). By conducting these semi- structured interviews, I can go beyond the standard answers normally acquired via the school’s current survey model. The qualitative data will be used to create a conceptual framework that will examine marketing communications effectiveness and also suggest changes that will benefit the school. In addition, “semi-structured interviews can be used to validate findings from the secondary data questionnaires” (Saunders, et al., 2012, p. 315). So that the analysis is insightful, I will conduct thematic analysis of the qualitative data from group interviews. This process will also provide me with the “opportunity to alter and modify Comment [Author16]: Notice how the author here defines the research methodology (single case study) and the research methods (mixed methods) in that order. However, the adoption of mixed methods has not been justified. Comment [Author17]: This paragraph, while necessary and well written, unnecessarily repeats some of what was already discussed in the previous paragraph on the subject of primary and secondary data. Both these paragraphs could have been integrated into a more streamlined discussion to eliminate unnecessary repetition. Comment [Author18]: This is a thorough, concise, and very logically structured section. It clearly shows what the researcher will do and with what in regards to data collection. It also discusses clearly what type of data will be collected and how it will be analysed. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 51 729PROJ Project Learning Materials the analysis as ideas develop” (Howitt and Cramer, 2011, p. 194). A short questionnaire will be distributed online (via Qualtrics) to group participants prior to the interviews, to test the validity of solutions developed in the proposed conceptual framework. The questionnaire will provide both quantitative and qualitative data – and should balance any possible bias that might come from doing just purely qualitative research. Lastly, collection of qualitative data will assist with the triangulation of the secondary data already in ’ possession. I will be conducting thematic analysis for qualitative data, and using Qualtrics (survey platform) and Microsoft Excel for any necessary quantitative analysis. 4.2.2 Non-random sample Semi-structured interviews will provide insight into the effectiveness of current communication vehicles and messaging. I will use a non-random or judgmental approach to selection of group interview participants, and will be looking to interview between 15 to 30 parents of a heterogeneous mix. Interview participants will be chosen to ensure a good cross section of customers:  Parents who have been with the school more than 3 years  Parents new to the school  Parents who are positive/negative  Parents with children in all divisions  Parents who represent cultural groups representative of the major nationality groupings at the school Appendix A includes a copy of the proposed interview protocol and interview questions. 4.3 Secondary Data collects customer feedback via a number of channels. The ones that will be most relevant for this project include: - Parent pulse survey (annual customer satisfaction survey) – particular focus will be qualitative analysis of open comments. - Exit survey data (focus on customers who switched schools) - Formal feedback Although secondary data does consist mostly of formal surveys, I will be predominantly concerned with conducting a thematic analysis of raw data (open comments) to look for trends, evidence that may not be otherwise reflected in quantitative data. I anticipate this data will provide comparative and contextual data that can be used in triangulating findings. Appendix B includes a copy of the proposed survey. 5. Ethical considerations This Project will comply with the requirements for ethical conduct of research as outlined in Comment [Author19]: This part shows good integration of methods. The relationship between primary and secondary data is clearly discussed here. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 52 729PROJ Project Learning Materials the subject learning materials. Referring to the Australian national research risk categories, this is a ‘low risk’ project which may involve (some) discomfort for some participants since there is an existing relationship between myself and the parents who participate in the group interviews. Participants will be treated in an ethical manner and care will be taken to manage potential discomfort. Interviewees will be asked to provide consent (using AIB’s individual research consent form), will have the opportunity to withdraw from interview and will be assured that individuals will not be identified in the report. Data will be stored safely and will only be used for the purpose of the research. Appendix C includes a signed copy of the organizational research consent form which shows that has agreed to participate in the research. 6. Schedule for completion I expect to complete this Project in three months from the date of obtaining approval for the Project Proposal. Specific milestones in the Project are as follows: Approval of Project Proposal received 30 Sept 20xx Literature review commences 1 Oct Data collection commences 5 Oct Data collection concludes 20 Oct Literature review concludes 30 Oct Writing of first draft commences 1 Nov Submission of Draft Project Report 20 Nov Submission of Project Report (final) 15 Dec 20xx References (list not included) Comment [Author20]: This is a good, realistic timeframe. Note that the project is extensive, but not too complex that it could not be carried out in the time required. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 53 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Appendix A – Group Interview Structure/Questions Group Interviews: Communication at Meeting Data: Date: Start Time: Location: Meeting Leader: Elapsed Time: Participant Data: Number of Participants: Demographics of Participants: Length of tenure at : Number of Children: Division of Children: Good Morning, my name is XXX and I am Head of Communications and Marketing at . Purpose Thank you for coming today and agreeing to being part of this group discussion. The Communications Department work with all divisions/staff in the school to try to keep our community fully informed. As you will also be aware, I am currently concluding my MBA in marketing. The end project is a research project, and requires extensive research to be conducted into a “problem”. In this project, I will be examining the communication channels, vehicles and messages currently in place at and asking for your feedback in terms of their effectiveness. Any recommendations that result from this report will be presented to management team. The purpose of this group interview is to explore and determine the effectiveness of communication channels and messages at . As referenced, the findings from this session will be used as part of our on- going improvement efforts, and in my MBA project report. Confidentiality Each of you has been invited to participate as in this group interview. Your opinions and feedback will be kept confidential. We will be taking notes* and minutes so that we can ensure we are recording your opinion accurately. Your comments will be used combined with those from other meetings to examine the effectiveness. *My colleague XXX will be the official recording secretary, and will be taking notes for me as well. In order for me to use your feedback in my project, you need complete the AIB consent form that is on the table. If you are not comfortable with this, please just let me know. Please rest assured that your identity will be anonymized in both the ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 54 729PROJ Project Learning Materials research project and the end report for management. The end goal to these conversations is to understand the effectiveness of marketing communications (from a vehicle and channel point of view) and to ensure that we are doing what we need to, to ensure parents read, understand and are engaged at - and ultimately understand our programme. Are there any questions? Introductions As we are going to be together for an hour and a half or so, I would ask that we go around the table and briefly introduce ourselves. Interview questions (note that these are guidelines only. Questions may change with discussion, points brought up). 1. Can you think of a communication regarding an event or an issue that was done well over the last year? Why? 2. Taking the reverse approach - was there a communication regarding an event or an issue that was not done well over the last year. Why? 3. Do you receive the school’s communications (focusing on WAG – e-newsletter), parent advisories and parent portal as channels? 4. How effective do you feel (each channel) is in communicating information? 5. What could improve (each channel)? Timing, frequency, delivery, etc. 6. Do you feel that the announcement content is written in a manner that parents understand – academic updates, QAA, etc.? 7. What information do you want to hear from the school? How can we communicate it most effectively? 8. Do you feel that communications at open, honest, direct, timely and engaging? 9. Would you describe yourself as an engaged parent? 10. Do you understand the academic and IB programme(s)? Can you explain them? 11. Do you understand the new QAA programme? Can you explain it? End of Session Wrap up Thank you for your participation, we find this incredibly useful in our on- going improvement efforts. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 55 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Appendix B - Communication Effectiveness Survey (First page only) General Communication Which best describes your impression of communication at ? _ Keeps us fully informed _ Keeps us fairly well informed _ Keeps us adequately informed _ Gives us only a limited amount of information _ Doesn't tell us much at all about what's going on Please comment on any particular channels if you feel it is relevant. Do you feel that communications are easily understood? _ I can almost always understand what is being explained. _ I can usually understand what is being explained. _ I can understand what is being explained about half the time. _ I usually can't understand what is being explained. _ I can almost never understand what is being explained. Please comment if you have further feedback to share. Do you feel that messages are relevant to you and answer your questions? _ Yes, always _ Yes, sometimes _ I don’t know _ No, not normally _ No, never Please comment if you have further feedback to share. Are communications appropriate in length? _ Yes, messages and announcements are always the right length _ Yes, messages and announcements are usually the right length _ Have no strong opinion _ No, messages and announcements are usually too long _ No, messages and announcements are always too long Please comment if you have feedback to share. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 56 729PROJ Project Learning Materials APPENDIX G: Example Project Report Improving marketing communications at in Singapore to build engagement and help with customer retention Title page – Please include:  Word count  Student name  Student number  Subject title  AQF level Please Note:  The example Project Report below reports on the project previously encountered in the example Project Proposal.  The example is based on an actual MBA Project Report which has been amended for the purpose of the example.  Remember that this is an example only. The example demonstrates many aspects of a good report but this is not only way of presenting a good report.  The example is used with grateful thanks to the student who wrote the original report.  Please note that the following example does not necessarily adhere to the formatting and word setting requirements outlined in the AIB Style Guide. Students would need to refer to the Style Guide for the requirements. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 57 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Executive summary All businesses need to market themselves effectively if they want to pursue financial success and gain competitive advantage. Central to all marketing activity is the aim to create value for all stakeholder groups by listening to the ‘voice of the customer’. This research project was a qualitative case study that examined marketing communications (from a channel and message resonance aspect within the school) with the people directly involved – the customer. It explored how these marketing communications could build engagement and help with customer retention. Three phases of data collection took place. Phase 1 consisted of an environmental scan and analysis of existing satisfaction survey data. Phase 2 saw semi-structured group and individual interviews conducted with 24 and non- customers (parents) who fit our target audience criteria. Data was analysed thematically and categorized. Phase 3, the final phase, involved analysing data from a National School Public Relations Association study of parent communication preferences in K-12 schools and triangulating it against Phase 1 and 2 data to corroborate findings. The major finding in the study was that using the voice of the customer in marketing communications is important in ensuring engagement and message resonance. It also highlights the need for the organisation to adopt a ‘market driven’ mentality. Encoding the message to ensure accurate de-coding is key in building engagement and driving the perception of value. Quality, an intangible element, needs to be communicated and evident. Ultimately, message resonance and understanding will build engagement, loyalty and ‘tangibilize’ the service being provided – aiding retention efforts. The project report is significant as there is limited research into marketing, and how marketing communications can aid retention, within the education sector. The project’s findings should benefit marketing managers in a K-12 school setting, regardless of whether it is a national or international system. Comment [Author21]: This is a very good example of a succinct executive summary. It starts with a very brief introduction on what the study is about, followed by the methodology used in the research, a brief description of the data collection and analysis, followed by a concluding paragraph that states the key finding and implications. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 58 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Table of Contents Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………………………….…………………. xx 1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………... xx 2. Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions …………… xx 2.1 Literature review 2.2 The rise of the international school sector 2.3 The organisation - 2.4 Research questions 3. Research methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………….. xx 3.1 Method 3.2 Data collection 3.3 Ethical procedures and consent 4. Presentation of findings …….………………………………………………………………….……………….. xx 4.1 Analysing the data 4.2 Answering the research questions 5. Implications and recommendations ……………………………………………………….….…………… xx 6. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…. xx References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….. xx Appendices …………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………. xx Appendix 1 - growth in student numbers since 1998 Appendix 2 – Location of all international schools (FSS) in Singapore Appendix 3 – Growth and composition of Singapore population Appendix 4 - International school fees Appendix 5 – Demographics of group interview participants Appendix 6 – Group interview structure / questions Appendix 7 – Organisational research consent form (signed) Appendix 8 – Individual research consent forms (each signed) Comment [Author22]: In your Project this should state ‘Literature overview’. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 59 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 1. Introduction Marketing in today’s global marketplace is pervasive and all-important in the ongoing quest for competitive advantage. Regardless of whether a business sells a physical product or a service, all businesses, large or small, need to market themselves effectively – as “financial success often depends on marketing ability” (Kotler, P, Keller, K, Ang, S, Leong, S and Tan, C, 2009, p. 4). The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (Belch, G and Belch, M, 2011, p. 7). While research related to professional services and communication is relatively broad, and many theories could be applied to the education sector, interestingly “education, as a specific marketing area has been noticeably absent” (Mazzarol & Soutar 1999, p287). Higher education research is limited, but there is a certain applicability of findings for the international school sector. For example, findings regarding image attractiveness in a study by Wilkins and Huisman (2013) do have direct correlation. Hoffman and Bateson (2010) remind service providers to not study service sectors in isolation, as innovative ideas can be uncovered by examining other sectors. Although concepts from services marketing literature and higher education research findings can be applied to the international school sector, there are some gaps in understanding what drives customer engagement / retention in this specific education sector. This is because international schools differ from higher education in that parents are the primary customers (students and state of happiness/achievement would be influencers). The research studies how marketing communications can drive satisfaction, value perception and aid in customer retention within a service driven education organisation, and draws on a number of services and higher education journal reviews, case studies and academic texts. The voice of the customer was critical in this case study - as the core methodology saw data being collected directly from the people affected - the customer (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Parents of children aged 3 to 18, both customers and non- customers, were invited to participate in in-depth semi-structured group and individual interviews. Data was analysed thematically, using a thematic (ideas) coding method, followed by categorisation of the coded data into similar groupings. The case report will illustrate to management how an integrated approach to communication across the organisation will benefit the bottom line and keep customers engaged. It will also illustrate how the voice of the customer should also be used in ongoing evaluation efforts to ensure message resonance is not lost. While teacher communication and feedback is obviously critical in schools, this research focuses on organisational communication. In particular, the research problem addressed in this project is: “how can the use of appropriate marketing communications, incorporating Comment [Author23]: These first two paragraphs provide a very good discussion of some of the conceptual background into the study. Comment [Author24]: This paragraph does a good job of providing an overview of the gaps that the study seeks to address. Comment [Author25]: This paragraph and the one just above it provide a good overview and rationale for the methodology used. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 60 729PROJ Project Learning Materials the voice of the customer, aid in building engagement, loyalty and ultimately help with customer retention”. The five further sections of this report present an overview of literature and organisation (section 2), research methodology (section 3), presentation of findings (section 4), implications and recommendations (section 5) and conclusion (section 6). 2. Orientation: relevant literature, the case organisation and research questions In this section an overview of the relevant literature on marketing communication is presented (in section 2.1). This is followed by an overview of the context for this project: the international school sector (section 2.2) and, specifically, the case organisation (section 2.3). Finally, the research questions for this project are listed (section 2.4). 2.1 Literature review: marketing communications Today’s information age has revolutionised marketing, bringing with it new opportunities and challenges (Kotler et. al. 2011). The emergence of web and digital technologies has enabled marketers to reach their target market more effectively via online channels and e- communications, to analyse consumer behaviour and practice relationship marketing, monitor competitors, and to enable two-way brand conversations on a global scale, helping to facilitate engagement. At the same time, this age has brought with it a new era of informed consumers, who have the tools to conduct in depth brand research from the comfort of their own homes, and enjoy an increased buying power. Marketing is about communicating “value” to customers, and in today’s competitive marketplace; value, and perception of value, is critical. Value is “the customer’s perception of all of the benefits a product or service weighed against all the costs of acquiring and consuming it” (Belch, G and M, 2009, p7). Although an international schools “product” is information, the school is essentially a professional services provider selling a service that is highly intangible – an education. A service can be defined as “any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything” (Kotler et. al. 2009, p.390). Marketing a professional service differs from marketing a physical product, and relationship building and effective communication (Goldring, 2013) are crucial as the “customer is at the heart of services marketing” (Hoffman & Bateson 2010, p78). An integrated marketing and communications (IMC) strategy will allow an organisation to “plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communication programmes over time with consumers, customers, prospects, employees, and other targeted relevant internal/external audiences, with an end goal of both short terms financial returns and long term brand and shareholder value” (Belch, G & M, 2011, p10). The role of marketing communications is to “inform, persuade and remind consumers” about the brand, and establish a dialogue and rapport with customers (Kotler, et. al. 2009, p528). Goldring (2013, p72) quoting Sharma and Patterson, states that “the communication Comment [Author26]: This section of the introduction provides a good snapshot of the structure of the project one section at a time. Comment [Author27]: In your Project this should state ‘Literature overview’. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 61 729PROJ Project Learning Materials effectiveness of a professional services provider is one of the primary drivers of establishing a relationship commitment”, enhancing customer satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. Bolton and Tarazi (2007) quoting Hunt and Horn iterate that “developing a customer base it vital to firm survival and should be one of the main foci of marketing”. Retaining this customer base, therefore, is also vital to firms in ongoing competitive success. Communication and message resonance are also pivotal to the concept of relationship marketing. Bojei and Alwie (2010, pp. 87-88) state that “communication does influence service quality which significantly influences commitment and satisfaction, and finally leads to quality relationships. Generally, in any relationship, communication plays a significant role to ensure both parties understand each other. This is because communication leads to information sharing or participation from both parties, whereas communication quality relates to the quality of information which includes accuracy, credibility adequacy and completeness of information shared by both parties.” To ensure marketing communications are as effective as possible in building engagement, Kotler, et al’s (2009) eight steps in developing effective communications should be followed at all times: 1. “Identify target audience – influences the message – what to say, how to say it, and who should say it. Close any existing gaps between existing perception and image / understanding sought 2. Determine objectives – what are the objectives of the communication, i.e. what are you trying to achieve with this communication 3. Design the communications – message and creative (how the message is expressed) strategy 4. Select channels – personal (social media, blogs, online forums) /non-personal (mass media, e-newsletters, webpages) 5. Establish budget (as needed) 6. Decide on media mix – the channels that will be employed to most effectively meet communication objectives. School settings tend to use: events and direct / interactive marketing through the use of weekly newsletters, parent advisories (email), portal posts, website pages and social media 7. Measure results – focus on outcomes. What impact did the message have, what actions were taken, what was the engagement, etc. 8. Manage integrated marketing communications – using multiple media can maximise the impact of the message” (Kotler et. al 2009, p.534 and 556) Marketing communication activities in a school can be thought of as telling the “story” to keep the audience engaged, a fundamental component that precedes retention in the international school customer lifecycle as illustrated in figure 4.1. Comment [Author28]: Notice the development of the discussion here. The overall subject of marketing, the need for effective communication in marketing, and then integrating them together into the main point, which is marketing communications. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 62 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Figure 1: (Adaptation of chart on p. 17, Hodgson, A and Willows, D, 2010, Effective International Schools Series – Effective Marketing, Communications and Development) Storytelling can be used to “lessen the gap between consumer and company” and to “create a bridge of longevity, loyalty, mutual understanding, connection and trust” (Hermansson and Na, 2008). Ultimately, communications that resonate with the customer can help to build tangibility and provide evidence of quality and performance in an organisation. In addition, marketing communications should always communicate the brand and school image effectively, maintain a “customer focus in order to achieve customer satisfaction”, and mirror the school’s personality (Wilkins & Huisman 2013, p. 610). Never has it been so important to utilise the various online channels available to engage customers, and to establish credibility through storytelling and effective communications. The education sector is about relationships and trust – it is people based and customer contact is high. International schools differ from higher education institutions from a customer point of view, however, as the parent is the ultimate customer, and their child is “consuming the service”. This can make it hard for the customer (parents) to interpret the quality of the service delivery and place trust in the provider, as feedback from their child will be dependent on age. This highlights how crucial it is that marketing communications provide credible evidence of how good the “service” is, and that they “tangibilize the intangible” (Kotler et al. 2009, p.392). Communications should also be personable, and build trust. “When consumers are regularly in contact with a brand, they may begin to perceive it as a person, a trusted friend who is part of their everyday life, thereby strengthening their loyalty to the brand” (Ahuja & Medury 2010, p. 96). 2.2 The rise of the international school sector on a global basis The international schools sector is a very lucrative and growing market. In a report by ICEF monitor, “International School Consultancy (ISC) Research Ltd., founder and director, Nicholas Brummitt, unveiled research pegging the total number of English-medium international schools at 6,533” (ICEF 2013). A rise in global mobility and the burgeoning growth of the middle class in the Asian region is key to international school growth. Parents are looking to international schools to give their Comment [Author29]: While this is a very good literature overview as a whole, it does seem that the work of Kotler, et al is the most heavily relied upon reference. Nevertheless, the fact that other reference works are referred to means that the student here has done a good amount of reading, which is more than sufficient for a project of this length. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 63 729PROJ Project Learning Materials child an educational advantage in an increasingly competitive world. Countries such as Malaysia, Korea and India are creating international education hubs, inviting international schools to set up shop to tap into this lucrative market. 2.3 The organisation - The () is a K-12 international school in Singapore, with 2,950 students from over 65 nations. is an IB World School and has a pedagogical approach that focuses on best practices in terms of curriculum development. has two campuses – Tanjong Katong in the east, and Lakeside in the west. The early days at in terms of customer numbers were slow, but the reputation built slowly and the number of students grew each year. Since 1998, the school has mostly enjoyed on average a 10-20% year on year growth in student numbers (see Appendix 1), allowing it to build its customer base and be the fourth largest international school in the country. Qualities that are integral to the brand and leveraged in marketing materials are: 1. A quality curriculum and holistic academic approach (IB world school) 2. An individual focus on each and every student 3. Cultural diversity 4. The ethos and school culture The market operates in is changing. In 2009, the Singapore government came under fire for lack of places/choice in international schools and international schools’ cost/financial practices. New governmental legislation was implemented to address the financial practices, eliminating the practice of deposit collection, thereby eliminating switching costs, making it much easier for customers to change providers, and making it much more difficult for schools to predict the following years’ enrolment. To address the number of places available and to ensure Singapore was still attractive to MNCs and businesses, the government went through a request for interest (RFI) exercise, which allowed new international schools to enter the market. Well-established schools globally recognised schools, Dulwich College and Gems, have been granted access to Singapore and will in August 2014 open multi-million dollar campuses. Lastly, trends towards local packages for expats, and reduced numbers of inbound expat professionals, make value even more critical criteria in school selection. With the number of customers “switching” schools on the increase, competition intensifying, and loyalty, satisfaction and engagement down, profitability projections are being impacted. Customer retention is now vital. With the changing market, the traditional transactional approach to marketing at needs to change. The bottom line is at risk, and must focus on both customer acquisition (which according to the US Small Business Administration and US Chamber of Commerce costs five to seven times more than retaining existing customers – Mansfield 2012) and customer retention. In order to meet financial targets, we need to be service (and customer) oriented and are devising new ways to keep customers engaged and to enable them to become advocates of the service. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 64 729PROJ Project Learning Materials There are, however, some problems in this new world. Preliminary retention strategies for each school division (campus) have been created, however, plans are silo in nature and tend to focus primarily on the respective division/campus. Plans have not used the voice of the customer in formulation and do not have a unified communications strategy/ rollout plan tied to them. There are no plans to test/measure messages for customer resonance/effectiveness, meaning that they may not be correctly encoded, so that decoding by the target audience is possible (Kotler, et al 2009). Lastly, no metrics are in place to evaluate retention strategy effectiveness. 2.4 Research questions Marketing theory points to the fact that communication is an integral aspect of marketing. To assess how effective communications are, the following questions were addressed during this research: 1. What do our customers perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the current marketing communications channels/vehicles at ? 2. Do our customers feel that messages are relevant to them and address their questions/needs? Are messages easy to interpret/understand? 3. Why should adopt a marketing communications strategy that focuses on message resonance organisation wide? 4. How can the school benefit from implementing suggested improvements in marketing communications across the organisation? 3. Research methodology This section outlines the research methodology used in this Project. First, case research is identified as the research method. Then, the three-phased approach to data collection is described. Finally, ethical considerations are addressed. 3.1 Method Case research was chosen as the methodology to answer the research questions. A single holistic case is justified as the study presented a unique opportunity to explore the impact of marketing communications on customers within the school (Saunders, et. al 2012, p.179), and to address a critical concern for – how marketing communications can aid retention. Listening to the voice of the customer was important in this study, as this “voice” can be utilized in retention plans (Crawford and Benedetto 2011). A second justification for the single case study is that it provided the opportunity to explore the topic in detail, and is a “worthwhile way of exploring existing (marketing) theory” (Saunders et. al. 2012, p180). My position at the school affords me a unique advantage of direct access to customers across both school campuses, and a good understanding of current communication practices. 3.2 Data collection The research consisted of three phases. Phase 1 of the research evaluated the competitive and host environment and secondary survey data. Phase 2 saw semi-structured group and individual interviews conducted with parents of children aged 3 to 18 to gather qualitative Comment [Author30]: See previous comment on research questions in the draft proposal (Appendix F). As much as possible, research questions should be open ended. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 65 729PROJ Project Learning Materials data (from both customers and non-customers), with Phase 3 using secondary data from a 2011 National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) communication effectiveness survey to triangulate data. 3.2.1 Phase 1 – environmental scan using secondary data The first phase provided background information obtained from primarily quantitative data. It required access to government statistics, competitor and sector research. Some of data was obtained from publicly available government databases (Singstat and Population Singapore); another data source was the secondary survey data already in the school’s possession (an international school Frost and Sullivan report, 2012). Details of the data obtained are included in Appendices 2 to 4. Additional data was obtained from 2012/2013 customer satisfaction surveys, the annual parent pulse and exit survey (leaving parents only). Both surveys are conducted online, and a Likert 5-point scale is used, where 1 is very dissatisfied/strongly disagree, and 5 is very satisfied/strongly agree. The percentages of respondents who are satisfied/very satisfied are used to measure overall satisfaction and to show what is working well/what needs improvement. 3.2.2 Phase 2 – semi-structured group and individual interviews Phase 2 was an exploratory study into the impact of marketing communications on the customer. This phase focused on qualitative data. “Researchers who use qualitative methods seek a deeper truth. They aim to study things in their natural setting, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them, and they use a holistic perspective which preserves the complexities of human behaviour” (Greenhalg and Taylor, p.740). Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with a heterogeneous mix of 24 parents (15 customers and 9 non- customers), providing a unique opportunity to explore the “phenomenon within context (directly with the customer), using a variety of data sources” (Baxter and Jack 2008, p. 544). The sample size of the group was appropriate (Saunders et al. 2012, p. 283), and the reliability of each customer’s contribution is considered valid (researcher maintained the question and theme exploration scope, and customers are intimately acquainted with communications and want to be engaged) and high. A judgmental approach was used in the selection of group interview participants; general demographic details can be viewed in Appendix 5. Interviews took place over 3 weeks (October 5 to 25) during school hours and on campus (both and non-). Some interviews were conducted in groups, some with individuals (fitting the customer’s schedules). Each interview lasted between 50 and 90 minutes. The interview guidance framework for the interviews is included in Appendix 6. Note-taking was the main mode of recording feedback during the interviews. To help ensure that no personal bias influenced the researcher’s findings, a marketing and communications team member was also present and taking notes/making observations during each Comment [Author31]: Be careful to always include a date whenever you cite a reference. This citation lacks a date (year of publication.) ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 66 729PROJ Project Learning Materials interview. After each interview, the researcher combined the two sources and finalized the interview’s feedback. In addition to the formal recorded notes, the researcher kept a journal of logged comments, questions and general observations, and recorded possible trends as discussions were on-going – allowing topics to be revisited during interviews and with other groups as needed. 3.2.3 Phase Three – NSPRA survey The third phase of this project involved quantitative data from a 2011 National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) communication preferences survey. 268,917 US residents (parents and non-parents) were invited to participate; of these, 43,410 responded which is a 16% response rate. The NSPRA data was triangulated with the data sets of the research to test the reliability and validity of research findings in terms of marketing communications channels and their effectiveness, desired communications content, and to a lesser extent frequency. This also helped to balance any possible bias that might come from purely qualitative research. 3.3 Ethical procedures and consent Permission for this in-depth case research was granted by the General Manager of the school. Interviews followed the ethical procedures outlined in the AIB Learning Materials, and all interviewees signed the AIB Individual Research Consent Form to indicate their consent for feedback to be used. As this report will be shared with management, parents were assured that confidentiality would be observed and that their names would not be attributed to comments they made in this report. Both the organisation and personal consent forms can be found in Appendix 7 and 8. 4. Presentation of findings 4.1 Analysing the data 4.1.1 Phase 1 - Analysis of environmental scan data Marketers need to understand the target market and the industry their firm operate in. Phase one began with an in-depth analysis of both publicly available data and company data from an international school report to reinforce understanding of the size of the target audience, and industry and the competitive forces at play. The population data indicates that the number of expats is not on the increase, and tighter immigration measures are curbing the flow of inbound expats to control numbers. This supports ’ belief that when additional schools open in 2014 there will be an oversupply of school places in the market, and supports the need to focus on customer retention. Parent satisfaction with communication at is measured through two annual surveys: the parent pulse (with 630 parents responding in 2012-13, 21.7% of the parent population) and the exit survey (with 250 responses which is 85% of those leaving). In analysing the quantitative survey data it appears that: o Parents satisfied with the weekly e-newsletter and its content (89% very Comment [Author32]: It would have been better to have started this sentence with a word rather than a number. Comment [Author33]: This data analysis section is very comprehensive and well structured. It shows clearly that the data was analysed in great depth and in several ways, but explained in a way that is easy enough for the average reader to understand. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 67 729PROJ Project Learning Materials satisfied/satisfied) o School website - 81% of parents visit it regularly (this correlates with site analytics data) o The parent portal, while it faced a rocky implementation in 12/13 is considered as worth pursuing (with the caveat that improvements are obviously needed) o Parents do not understand the IB programme as well as they should – the IB is at the core of who the school is and something that is communicated often. Details are presented in Figure 2 below. Figure 2 - Parent Pulse Survey / Exit Survey Results 12/13 – communications extract. Percentages indicate the percentage of parents who are very satisfied/satisfied, or strongly agree/agree. Open comments were analysed thematically allowing the researcher to “identify limited numbers of themes which adequately reflect the textual data” (Howitt & Cramer 2011, p. 346). Text was coded inductively, according to general themes, to summarise the data and find patterns, and then categorized to establish a framework of thematic ideas (Gibbs 2007). The key aim of the categories was to answer the research questions. It should be noted that existing surveys did not contain large numbers of comments related to communications. Qualitative findings would therefore need to be correlated to primary data findings to corroborate or disprove assumptions. Categories that emerged include encoding/decoding the message, message mode/frequency, communication channels. A summary of these categorized comments and supporting evidence include: o The timeliness or frequency of messages do not always meet the audiences need: “Sometimes the communication to parents doesn't reach the best possible level, for ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 68 729PROJ Project Learning Materials example the recent Snow White musical, which I was completely unaware of until the previous evening when my daughter told me about it”. o The audience was not always able to decode the message: “The communication from is frequent and plenty, but the relevance not always obvious” and “the WAG is great as an email, but I have missed some important things because of too much information”. o The portal as a channel was also frustrating some parents, although feedback also paved the way for possible solutions: “Login to portal is not so easy thing to do as busy parents every weekend. We of course would try our best but sometimes physically not possible. It would be highly appreciated if home room teacher could send parents another reminder or following up”. 4.1.2 Phase 2 - Thematic analysis of interview data Data was analysed thematically, using a simple thematic (ideas) coding method, followed by categorisation of the coded data into similar groupings (Gibbs 2007). This allows for a more analytical, categorical and theoretical analysis – rather than simply a descriptive one, and provides an “opportunity to alter and modify the analysis as ideas develop” (Howart and Cramer, 2011, p.346). Relationships between the categories were also examined to find linkages/ support findings. Inherent to the thematic analysis was an inductive approach as it facilitated: o “Condensing raw textual data into a brief, summary format; o Establishing clear links between the evaluation or research objectives and the summary findings derived from the raw data; and o Developing a framework of the underlying structure of experiences or processes that are evident in the raw data.” (Thomas, 2006, p.238). Figure 3 presents the main themes with sub-themes (and links between themes) that emerged when coding qualitative data collected from the group interviews. Figure 3 - Mind map of coded and categorised interview data ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 69 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Discussions with customers were revealing and highlighted five significant issues: o weekly e-newsletter and volume of information (message encoding/decoding), o relevance and length of communications (message encoding/decoding), o frequency of communications (message frequency), o non-operational communications needed (message encoding/decoding), o parent portal improvements needed (communication channel/customer education). There was a high frequency of similar comments from all participants within themes/topics on an individual and group level, corroborating the findings outlined below – as indicated in Table 4 below. Table 4 Relative frequency chart - categorised thematic interview data Relevance (decoding) and length/complexity (encoding) were the themes that were the most heavily weighted with regards to feedback. The five issues are summarised below and relevant interview quotes are included. The first issue concerns the weekly e-newsletter. Customers indicated that they were very happy with the frequency and delivery method of the weekly e-bulletin, but that they feel overload by the volume of information (number of announcements and length of announcements). “I like the WAG, but at times it is just too long and there is too much information. Does the principal have to recap everything? Use a short intro and have the read more – then I can choose if it is relevant to me. Even wife says that there is too much in the WAG.” Campus A parent. “WAG and Parent Advisories are my main sources of information as a parent. Both the WAG and Advisories contain very important information, but I often don’t take the time to read the WAG until the beginning of the next week because they are very long and require me to set aside a period of time for review.” Campus B parent. “You cannot criticize the length of any newsletter, as these forms of communication will never be a perfect fit for all families. It would be good to have less text showing in the ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 70 729PROJ Project Learning Materials body and a read more functionality employed - then I can choose what to read and what I don’t want to read.” Non- parent. The second issue was around the concept of relevance/complexity (information provided) and length (announcement length) of communications – this was an issue for all interview participants. Customer sentiment is that announcements are frequently too wordy, and customers don’t always understand what they are supposed to take away from the communications, some just don’t understand them (too technical or complex) or understand the relevance to them personally. “The messages from the Principal around the new assessments and ratings were very verbose and not clear. Also there have been too many emails on this topic instead of a single one that outlines the new steps being taken.” Campus B parent. “Some of our parents don’t speak English. Our Chinese parents are questioning if is the right school for their child. The school needs to communicate what they want to hear – that the programme is rigorous – provide evidence in a language they understand.” Campus B parent. “Academic updates are specialized fields and make no sense to people who are not experts on the subject. To ensure that parents understand these topics, messages need to be broken down to absolutely basic levels. Explaining the reasons for the project, the process and finally the outcome that we are seeking or expect, in layman’s terms, will help people understand the concept.” non- parent. The third issue was around the number (volume) and frequency of advisories and that while some improvements could definitely be made, 90% were satisfied with the overall delivery, and commented that they prefer to be informed at the time an issue arises. Although not a real issue with parents, it is an issue operationally – as the Head of School at believes there should be virtually no need for email communications. Interviews with parents refute this belief. “I liked the fact that the school sent an unplanned advisory to let me know what it was doing regarding Dengue Fever.” Campus B Parent. "As a working parent, I do need reminders, so appreciate emails - but not too often. I don't want to feel it is a chore to keep up to date." non- parent. "I don’t think parents feel that there are too many emails in general… some information could be consolidated (event reminders, and the like).” Campus B parent. The fourth issue identified that parents felt that operational communications were the predominant focus and not enough was done to showcase students and their achievements, or what was happening in that realm. In one group session, parents brainstormed a new e- communication would be welcome (refuting the researcher’s belief that parents did not want more email communication) – if it was visual and celebratory in nature. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 71 729PROJ Project Learning Materials “Could include more on school achievements with photos, etc. A magazine style that highlights what’s happening at the school would help.” Campus B parent. “Everything is visual these days. Get some info graphics going, videos of kids, and bang – you have the parents’ interest.” non- parent. The fifth issue was around the parent portal channel. Parents understand the value of the portal, however, they would like to see it more relevant (gateway to all technologies used by ) and for navigation to improve – less clicks. Parents would also like to see a self- help feature include a mini-series of short help “how to” videos. “They are also more inclined to use the portal this year - although there is some definite lack of understanding of what the portal offers them.” Campus A parent. “More needs to be in the portal to get parents in - have everything accessible from there - Edmodo, blogs, everything!” Campus B parent. “I would say the portal is great – people need to understand that short and sweet is good. Once you understand the portal, everything is there.” Campus A parent. 4.1.3 Phase Three – NSPRA survey analysis The third phase of this project involved analysing quantitative data from a 2011 National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) communication preferences survey and triangulating all data sets to test the reliability and validity of research findings. The findings are presented below. Preferred modes of communication with the school match current practices and parents’ preferred modes. Emails, portal, e-newsletters, and website are the top 4 and these match primary marketing communication modes. Table 5 - Source NSPRA 2011 Communication effectiveness survey – slide 9 ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 72 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Preferred communication channels highlighted in NSPRA match/validate/corroborate ’s channels and parent preferences. Email, e-news/advisory, website and parent portal are the top four channels. Table 6 - Source NSPRAK 2011 Communication effectiveness survey – slide 10 Parent information needs (‘Information desired from school’) highlight the importance of communicating the curriculum/IB well and having the information resonate with the audience. Table 7- Source NSPRA 2011 Communication effectiveness survey – slide 17 ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 73 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Schools that communicate well with their communities do more than provide one-way communication. They provide opportunity for dialogue and criticism - supporting the need to use the voice of the customer in marketing communications and retention planning (via focus groups, opinion polls, etc). Frequency of updates. Although the NSPRA relates to district information, it does support the findings that parents like to be informed regularly. Weekly for the e-newsletter is plausible, as is the desire to be informed as and when decisions are made. Table 8 - Source NSPRA 2011 Communication effectiveness survey – slide 35 In short, the triangulation of this data helped to corroborate, validate and justify findings and analytic assumptions related to marketing communications within the school, and with the target audience. 4.2 Answering the research questions Now, each of the research questions is answered based on the analysis of data presented in the sub-section above. 4.2.1 Question 1 - What do our customers perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the current marketing communications channels/vehicles at ? Marketing communication channels are effective: e-newsletters, email advisories, portal and website are accepted as mainstream communication channels for parent community, however, complacency needs to be avoided. Ongoing innovation is needed to drive engagement. Specifically, findings show: Email. Parents like the use of email for urgent and ad hoc issues and also for sending reminders. Comment [Author34]: The findings analysed above are used here to answer each of the research questions, which is the whole point of this project. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 74 729PROJ Project Learning Materials Portal. The portal is considered useful but not always accessed by busy parents. There could be better navigation (with less clicks) and a ‘how to’ video to help explain how to make the most of the portal. Parent portal needs to improve – more content is needed, and simpler navigation – less clicks. Mobile friendly is essential. Newsletter. 89% of parents are satisfied or very satisfied with the newsletter. However, the volume of information is considered to be too much. Parents suggested a summary format be used. Website. 81% of parents regularly visit the website. It is an obvious communication channel for the school. 1.2.2 Question 2 - Do our customers feel that messages are relevant to them and address their questions/needs? Are messages easy to interpret/understand? Interview comments from parents show that there are some difficulties with communication, including issues relating to: Timeliness or frequency of messages. Frequency could be improved (parent advisories), however, parents are not feeling overwhelmed by marketing communications as management had previously thought. Parents like to be informed. De-coding of messages. Message resonance (relevance/understanding) is not as it should be: encoding and audience decoding is critical in ensuring communications are effective and that retention activities will have an impact. This was evident in analysis of secondary data (parent pulse – understanding of IB programme) and interviews. The school could highlight benefits and rigour of program to Chinese parents, could provide academic updates in simply language as most parents are not experts in academic areas, could provide summaries of information for busy parents who might otherwise miss something. Volume of information. Messages need to be simpler and shorter - to ensure parents do not tune out and disengage. The school could summarise information; provide an overview with click-throughs to further detail. Content of information. Could include more showcasing of students and their achievements, include more celebratory and visual information. 1.2.3 Question 3 - Why should adopt a marketing communications strategy that focuses on message resonance organisation-wide? The data has shown (Phase 1) that the number of expats and expat children is likely to decrease in the near future while additional international schools are opening. This means it is important for to focus on customer retention and to improve marketing communication where possible. 1.2.4 Question 4 - How can the school benefit from implementing suggested improvements in marketing communications across the organisation? Multiple suggestions for improvement were received (summarised under questions 1 and 2). Improvements help with retention and with improved intake numbers. ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 75 729PROJ Project Learning Materials 5. Implications and recommendations The research conducted clearly indicates the importance of using the voice of the customer in formulating key messages, and in evaluating if these messages are resonating with the needs of the audience, with an end goal of building engagement/loyalty. To be effective in communication, the school must shift from the current silo approach to communication and move towards a strategic, organisation wide process-outcome focus (Kotler et. al, 2009). Retention plans should be cross-disciplinary if they are to be effective. Based on this research it is recommended that embrace the following opportunities for improvement to its marketing communications strategy: 1. Marketing theory illustrates the importance of customer’s value perception and communicating effectively. Kotler, et al.’s (2009, p.534) eight-step process of effective communication must be used as the framework for all major communication projects – building on the strength of existing channels, and eliminating weaknesses in message decoding. 2. Marketing communications must be strategic, integrated and unified across the organisation. Management must use “one voice” across all communications, channels and platforms in the promotion of the brand (Masterman and Wood, 2006 - quoting Shimp, 1997, p.5). Messages will resonate, and a stronger customer-brand connection will be facilitated (Kotler et. al, p.529), with quality, that intangible element, communicated and evident in all marketing communications (Kotler et. al, 2009). 3. Internal marketing capability must be cultivated to create a market driven organisation. All staff must understand and “buy into the concepts and goals of marketing, and deliver and communicate customer value” (Kotler et. al., p.716), driving customer satisfaction. 4. Implement an executive training framework to educate the senior leadership team. Focusing on effective communication techniques, staff will understand how to influence customer’s quality perceptions (Bojei and Alwie, 2010, pp. 87-88) – driving efficient message encoding/decoding. 5. A formal communication measurement framework must be implemented to measure/ monitor effectiveness of communication on the receiver (based on Kotler, et al.’s macro-model of the communications process and response hierarchy communications model). 6. Metrics must be tied to each eight-step communication action plan, and will measure encoding and decoding effectiveness – helping to eliminate resonance weaknesses, and drive satisfaction. Metrics must include: o Resonance (satisfaction after communication/event, changed opinion, desired actions) ©Australian Institute of Business. 26JUL16_SLT:2016:7ed 76 729PROJ Project Learning Materials o Reach/engagement (readership, click through rate, time on page) o Response rate (event sign ups, etc.) o Feedback monitoring (satisfaction, complaints, focus groups) These recommendations address the research questions and will benefit the school by changing customer opinion and driving satisfaction (retention). The school will more effectively communicate its identity, and use communications to contribute to building loyalty and brand credibility. It should be noted that this study was limited to a small group of participants. The school should continue the qualitative research started in this research project to monitor on-going communications efforts, and to ensure that the data remains representative of the customer. This could be part of the effectiveness measurement system and form part of the communications feedback loop. 6. Conclusion “The foundation for building true loyalty lies in customer satisfaction. Highly satisfied or even delighted customers are more likely to consolidate their purchases, spread positive word-of-mouth, and become loyal advocates of a firm” (Wirtz, et al. p. 370). To remain competitive and retain our customers, we need to listen to them, understand what their needs are, and communicate in a way that they understand. It therefore makes sense from an operational perspective to ensure the voice of the customer is used to formulate and evaluate marketing communications in an international school environment. In brief, needs to adopt a unified and integrated marketing communications strategy that supports and underpins retention strategies and efforts, and all normal operational activities. This strategy will ensure messages are coordinated, appropriately crafted and positioned (encoding/decoding critical), with the end goal of resonance. It is also critical that management understand that there can be no gap between marketing communications and customer expectations (delivery, quality, service). A unified strategy will also ensure communication timeliness; appropriate message frequency and optimal channel effectiveness. In summary, effective marketing communications can drive product (or in this case, service) understanding and increase the value perception - thereby building engagement, aiding satisfaction, and ultimately customer retention efforts. References (list not included here) Appendices (not included here) Comment [Author35]: Note that the recommendations address the research questions and are practicable. Always ensure that whatever your recommend, they can actually be implemented or applied in the real world. Comment [Author36]: Again, please do not forget to include the year of publication in a reference citation. Comment [Author37]: The conclusion here not only sums up the entire project’s findings, it also provides a good, practical overall recommendation that summarises the more detailed recommendations just before it. This conclusion is succinct and to the point. Comment [Author38]: A question is sometimes asked about the difference between a reference list and a bibliography. A reference list simply includes all the references you have used in your final written work. A bibliography includes all the material you have read in relation to your study, including those that you did not actually use in your final written work. For purposes of this project, you are required to have a Reference List only.