CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Studies may be either exploratory in nature or descriptive, or may be conducted to test hypotheses. The case study, which is an examination of studies done in other similar organizational situations, is also a method of solving problems, or for understanding phenomena of interest and generating further knowledge in that area. The nature of the study—whether it is exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis testing—depends on the stage to which knowledge about the research topic has advanced. The design decisions become more rigorous as we proceed from the exploratory stage, where we attempt to explore new areas of organizational research, to the descriptive stage, where we try to describe certain characteristics of the phenomena on which interest centers, to the hypotheses testing stage, where we examine whether or not the conjectured relationships have been substantiated and an answer to the research question has been obtained. We will now look at each of these in some detail.
Exploratory Study
An exploratory study is undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand, or no information is available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past. In such cases, extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity with the phenomena in the situation, and understand what is occurring, before we develop a model and set up a rigorous design for comprehensive investigation.
In essence, exploratory studies are undertaken to better comprehend the nature of the problem since very few studies might have been conducted in that area. Extensive interviews with many people might have to be undertaken to get a handle on the situation and understand the phenomena. More rigorous research could then proceed.
Some qualitative studies (as opposed to quantitative data gathered through questionnaires, etc.) where data are collected through observation or inter- views, are exploratory in nature. When the data reveal some pattern regarding the phenomena of interest, theories are developed and hypotheses formulated
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for subsequent testing. For example, Henry Mintzberg interviewed managers to explore the nature of managerial work. Based on the analysis of his interview data, he formulated theories of managerial roles, the nature and types of man- agerial activities, and so on. These have been tested in different settings through both interviews and questionnaire surveys.
Exploratory studies are also necessary when some facts are known, but more information is needed for developing a viable theoretical framework. For instance, when we want to get at the important factors that influence the advancement of women in organizations, previous studies might indicate that women are increasingly taking on qualities such as assertiveness, competitive- ness, and independence. There is also a perception that a judicious blend of mas- culine and feminine traits—such as being strong but not tough, kind but not soft—is conducive to women‘s organizational advancement. These notions apart, there is a need for interviewing women managers who have made it to the top to explore all the relevant variables. This will help to build a robust theory.
In sum, exploratory studies are important for obtaining a good grasp of the phenomena of interest and advancing knowledge through subsequent theory building and hypothesis testing.
The following is an example where exploratory research would be necessary.
Example 6.1 The manager of a multinational corporation is curious to know if the work ethic values of employees working in its subsidiary in Pennathur City would be dif- ferent from those of Americans. There is very little information about Pennathur (except that it is a small city in southern India), and since there is considerable controversy about what work ethic values mean to people in other cultures, the manager‘s curiosity can be satisfied only by an exploratory study, interviewing the employees in organizations in Pennathur. Religion, political, economic, and social conditions, upbringing, cultural values, and so on play a major role in how people view their work in different parts of the world. Here, since very little is known about work ethic values in India (or even if it is a viable concept for study in that country, as per discussions in a later chapter), an exploratory study will have to be undertaken.
Many topics of interest and concern to management in the management and organizational behavior areas have been studied, and information is available in the library on these subject areas. Although few exploratory studies are currently undertaken in the management area, researchers do explore new grounds from time to time with the changing dynamics that occur at the workplace. Not long ago, for instance, exploratory research on the topics of women in management and dual career families was conducted. Because of subsequent studies, research on these topics has now progressed beyond the exploratory stage to the hypoth- esis testing stage.
The same is also true of research on quality of life. At one time, exploratory studies were undertaken to understand what the concept quality of work life means. After extensive interviews with various groups of people, it was consid- ered to encompass such factors as enriched jobs, healthy work environment,
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 121 stress-free work relationships, job satisfaction, work role involvement, and other work-related factors. Current thinking is that the concept quality of work life is too narrow and limited to be useful for research and that the concept quality of life is more encompassing since work and nonwork cannot be viewed as two tightly compartmentalized aspects of an individual‘s life. Current research now takes both the work and nonwork factors (family, community, etc.) into consid- eration while examining quality of life. This advancement of knowledge would not have been possible without the initial exploratory studies.
Currently, exploratory studies about organizationally relevant differences in race, ethnic, and country origins are being undertaken so that sound theories about managing a diverse work group can be evolved for the future. Such exploratory studies are necessary since we do not now know if there are differ- ences in communication styles, interpretation schemas, superior–subordinate relationship expectations, and the like, among the groups. If conflict and stress in the system are to be reduced and productivity is to be maintained and increased in the years to come, such understanding would be essential. The demographics of the workplace are constantly changing, and learning to value differences and adopting new styles of management are important to organiza- tional success.
Exploratory studies can be done by interviewing individuals and through focus groups. For instance, if a company manufacturing cosmetics wants to obtain a thorough understanding of what it is that arouses emotive appeal for the prod- uct and induces people to buy cosmetics, several focus groups can be convened to discuss the related issues. This exploratory study will offer the needed pre- liminary information for a full-fledged study on the matter, later. With the advancement of technology, the Internet and videoconferencing facilities offer the advantage of contacting focus groups online at minimal cost. An analysis of their views would be very useful for a further in-depth study. Focus groups are discussed further in a later chapter.
It is important to note that doing a study for the first time in a particular organi- zation does not make the research exploratory in nature; only when knowledge is scant and a deeper understanding is sought, does the study become exploratory.
Descriptive Study
A descriptive study is undertaken in order to ascertain and be able to describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation. For instance, a study of a class in terms of the percentage of members who are in their senior and junior years, sex composition, age groupings, number of semesters left until graduation, and number of business courses taken, can be considered as descrip- tive in nature. Quite frequently, descriptive studies are undertaken in organiza- tions to learn about and describe the characteristics of a group of employees, as for example, the age, educational level, job status, and length of service of His- panics or Asians, working in the system. Descriptive studies are also undertaken to understand the characteristics of organizations that follow certain common practices. For example, one might want to know and be able to describe the
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characteristics of the organizations that implement flexible manufacturing sys- tems (FMS) or that have a certain debt-to-equity ratio.
The goal of a descriptive study, hence, is to offer to the researcher a profile or to describe relevant aspects of the phenomena of interest from an individual, orga- nizational, industry-oriented, or other perspective. In many cases, such information may be vital before even considering certain corrective steps, as for example:
Should the organization consider changing its practices? If a study of the firms in the industry indicates that most of them resort to just-in-time systems to cut inven- tory costs, maybe organization Z should also seriously consider the feasibility of this practice. Or if a descriptive study stresses the need to introduce flexible work hours for parents of children under 3 years of age, this may have to be seriously considered, and a much more focused study initiated to decide on the matter.
A brief description of the study of advances in the textile industry might look something like this:
US Textiles has used high-tech to make huge advances in productivity and innovation. An army of reels surrounds a complex circular knitting machine at Malden Hills, feeding yarn to thousands of needles producing polyester fabric. The 3-dimensional loom has added value utility in the com- petitive market.
Jacquard looms, which are computer controlled at Burlington, weave miles of intricately patterned materials. Even faster looms use jets of com- pressed air to move the weft. The industry is being revolutionized with a 3- dimensional loom that weaves the fibers in the shape of the end product, skipping the laborious process of lamination.
Denims, which are difficult to make, are now made by computer controls and electric sensors to a so-called dye range, which ensures a shade perfectly matching customers’ samples.
The fastest looms, automated spinning processes, and Sanfmi machines programmed from a desktop computer and capable of producing any type of garment are other innovations in the textile industry.
Such a description of the advances helps textile companies to gauge their progress in keeping up with the technological advances.
Descriptive studies that present data in a meaningful form thus help to (1) understand the characteristics of a group in a given situation, (2) think system- atically about aspects in a given situation, (3) offer ideas for further probe and research, and/or (4) help make certain simple decisions (such as how many and what kinds of individuals should be transferred from one department to another).
Below are examples of situations warranting a descriptive study.
Example 6.2 A bank manager wants to have a profile of the individuals who have loan pay- ments outstanding for 6 months and more. It would include details of their
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 123 average age, earnings, nature of occupation, full-time/part-time employment status, and the like. This might help him to elicit further information or decide right away on the types of individuals who should be made ineligible for loans in the future.
Example 6.3 A CEO may be interested in having a description of organizations in her indus- try that follow the LIFO system. In this case, the report might include the age of the organizations, their locations, their production levels, assets, sales, inventory levels, suppliers, and profits. Such information might allow comparison later of the performance levels of specific types of companies.
Example 6.4 A marketing manager might want to develop a pricing, sales, distribution, and advertising strategy for her product. With this in mind, she might ask for infor- mation regarding the competitors, with respect to the following:
1. The percentage of companies who have prices higher and lower than the industry norm; a profile of the terms of sale; and the percentage where prices are controlled regionally instead of from central headquarters.
2. The percentage of competitors hiring in-house staff to handle sales and those who use independent agents.
3. Percentage of sales groups organized by product line, by accounts, and by region.
4. The types of distribution channels used and the percentage of customers using each.
5. Percentage of competitors spending more dollars on advertising/promotion than the firm and those spending less; a categorization of their target audi- ence, and the types of media most frequently used.
6. Percentage of those using the web (―dot coms‖) to sell the product.
Descriptive studies thus become essential in many situations. Whereas quali- tative data obtained by interviewing individuals may help the understanding of phenomena at the exploratory stages of a study, quantitative data in terms of fre- quencies, or mean and standard deviations, become necessary for descriptive studies. A report on a descriptive study of the reaction of organizational mem- bers to a proposal to introduce an on-site child care facility, for instance, might look somewhat like this:
Whereas 30% of the employees were in favor of the idea, at least 40% felt that on-site child care facility was unnecessary. Twenty percent indicated that it would benefit only those with preschool children and hence would be unfair to the others who cannot use the facility. The remaining 10% suggested the introduction of a cafeteria style of benefits, so that employees could opt for what they preferred.
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More women than men were favorably inclined toward the proposal (almost 2:1). Parents with two or more preschool children overwhelmingly desired this; employees who did not belong to this category were opposed to the idea.
Employees over 50 years of age and those below 25 did not seem to favor this scheme. However, women between 25 and 45 (a total of 45 women) seemed to desire it the most.
The mean on the preference scale indicated for the child care facility by all employees is rather low (1.5 on a 5-point scale), but the dispersion is rather high, the standard deviation being 1.98. This indicates that there are some who indicate a strong liking for the proposed project, while some are totally against it.
The average preference indicated by women between the ages of 30 and 45 with children is the highest (4.75 on a 5-point scale) with very little disper- sion (the standard deviation for this group of 42 women was .38). This is the group that desires the on-site facility the most.
Introductory descriptive narratives in some research reports, as you might have noticed, are drawn from government statistical publications such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, census, and the like, from which data are culled for presenta- tion, as and when appropriate.
Hypotheses Testing
Studies that engage in hypotheses testing usually explain the nature of certain relationships, or establish the differences among groups or the independence of two or more factors in a situation. Examples of such studies are given below.
Hypothesis testing is undertaken to explain the variance in the dependent vari- able or to predict organizational outcomes.
Example 6.5 A marketing manager wants to know if the sales of the company will increase if he doubles the advertising dollars. Here, the manager would like to know the nature of the relationship that can be established between advertising and sales by testing the hypothesis: If advertising is increased, then sales will also go up.
Example 6.6 Given people‘s tensions on the subject of purchase of guns in these days of crime in cities big and small, a marketing researcher might be interested in predicting the factors that would significantly account for the variance in people‘s decision to purchase guns. Here, the researcher would have theorized the factors that would influence people‘s decision to possess guns (through literature search and interviews) and then test the hypothesis that four specific variables will signifi- cantly account for the variance in people‘s intention to buy a gun. Here again, the researcher is interested in understanding and accounting for the variance in the dependent variable—gun purchase—through hypothesis testing.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 125 Example 6.7 The testing of a hypothesis such as: More men than women are whistleblowers, establishes the difference between two groups—men and women—in regard to their whistle-blowing behavior.
Example 6.8 The independence between two variables that are qualitative in nature can also be established through hypothesis testing. Consider the hypothesis: Working the night shift (as opposed to the day shift) is related to whether or not one is married.
A chi-square test of independence will easily provide the answer to this question.
As may be seen, in hypotheses testing the researcher goes beyond mere description of the variables in a situation to an understanding of the relationships among factors of interest.
Case Study Analysis
As discussed in Chapter 2, case studies involve in-depth, contextual analyses of matters relating to similar situations in other organizations. We noted earlier that case studies, as a problem-solving technique, are not frequently resorted to in organizations because finding the same type of problem in another comparable setting is difficult due to the reluctance of the companies to reveal their prob- lems. Case studies that are qualitative in nature are, however, useful in applying solutions to current problems based on past problem-solving experiences. They are also useful in understanding certain phenomena, and generating further the- ories for empirical testing.
Review of the Purpose of the Study
It is not difficult to see that in exploratory studies, the researcher is basically interested in exploring the situational factors so as to get a grip on the charac- teristics of the phenomena of interest. Also, pilot studies on a small scale, by interviewing individuals or gathering information from a limited number of occurrences, are not uncommon in exploratory research.
Descriptive studies are undertaken when the characteristics or the phenomena to be tapped in a situation are known to exist, and one wants to be able to describe them better by offering a profile of the factors. Hypothesis testing offers an enhanced understanding of the relationship that exists among variables. It could also establish cause-and-effect relationships, as we will see in the next chapter. Hypothesis testing can be done with both qualitative and quantitative data. Case studies are generally qualitative in nature and are sometimes used as a tool in managerial decision making.
Methodological rigor increases as we move progressively from an exploratory study to a hypothesis-testing study, and with this, the costs of research also increase. As we will see in later chapters in this book, increases in sample size, multiple methods of data collection, development of sophisticated measuring instruments, and the like, add to research costs, though they contribute more to testability, accuracy, precision, and generalizability.