Defining and Refining the Problem

INTRODUCTION

Most research starts with a desire to understand problems, worries, and conflicts that exist in the organization or in its surroundings. To put it another way, research usually starts with a problem.

THE BROAD PROBLEM AREA

A "problem" does not always imply that there is an urgent issue that needs to be fixed in the current circumstance. A problem could also be a sign of interest in a topic where resolving it could help to make things better as they stand. As a result, it makes sense to characterize a problem as any circumstance in which there is a discrepancy between the desired and actual states.

We have enough knowledge to start our investigation from the aforementioned issues. But these issues also have one thing in common: they still need to be developed into a topic worthy of further study. In fact, the management issue must be narrowed down to a study-able topic once it has been identified. Often, a great deal of work is required to convert the broad issue into a research topic that is doable.

ISSUE VERSUS SYMPTOMS OF ISSUE

It is crucial that issues' symptoms not be mistaken for the actual issue. For example, a manager may have attempted, but failed, to reduce employee turnover—the phenomenon where the best workers leave the company—by raising wages. In this case, low employee motivation stemming from a sense of insufficient control over work may be the true issue. It's possible that the high turnover rate is just a sign of a serious motivational issue. Given these circumstances, a higher salary won't ultimately influence an employee's decision to quit. Therefore, it won't help to find the "right" solution to the "wrong" problem definition. Therefore, it must be acknowledged that accurate problem identification is extremely critical for finding solutions to vexing issues.

Managers frequently have a tendency to define the issue in terms of symptoms.The researcher needs to more precisely identify the problem instead of accepting it as such. The "5 Whys" or "5 Times Why" technique is one way to make sure that the issue is being addressed instead of the symptom. The 5 Whys method is a simple technique that can assist you in identifying the primary cause of an issue through preliminary investigation. The concept, which was created by Japanese industrialist Sakichi Toyada, is to never stop asking "Why?" until the most fundamental reason is identified.

Let's revisit our example to demonstrate this methodology.

My best workers are quitting the company.

Why? due to their dissatisfaction with their jobs.

Why? since their jobs do not present a challenge to them.

Why? due to the fact that they lack control over their work.

Why? because they have little control over how their work is planned, carried out, and assessed.

Why? since we have been hesitant to assign. It should be noted that asking

"Why?" five times as opposed to three, four, or six times is not a strict requirement; rather, the number five serves as a general guideline for the number of whys required to reach the root cause level. It is important that when examining recurrent issues, we focus on the actual causes rather than just the symptoms.

Although it offers a good starting point for a research project, the statement "The introduction of flexible work hours has created more problems than it has solved" lacks the specificity and focus required to fully explore it. By a) narrowing down the problem and b) establishing boundaries, we need to turn the broad issue into a researchable topic. Lastly, we must decide which c) perspective to use when researching the topic (Machi and McEvoy, 2012).

ADDING DETAIL AND PRIORITIES TO THE PROBLEM

Isolating the most important concepts from the initial draft of the problem statement is the "key" to solving your problem with clarity and focus. Many times, a broad, initial statement of the issue contains multiple terms and/or phrases that require definition. Examine the problem statement that follows: "Members of minority groups in organizations are not seeing career advancement." Look for the subjects (careers), verbs (advancing), and objects (members of the minority group) in your problem statement to determine the key terms. Precise definitions of essential terms are necessary to recognize the topic of the study and obtain access to pertinent scholarly resources. Having clear definitions will make it easier for you to read the literature. The review of the literature will help you to refine your research objective(s) and research questions and thus to develop a feasible topic for research.

How choosing an academic viewpoint will enable us to focus our research

Think about the following issue: "Passengers on airlines become very frustrated when there are prolonged and frequent delays. These emotions may ultimately result in behavioral changes, unfavorable word-of-mouth communications, and complaints from customers. Based on preliminary research, it appears that there are two main strategies used to control service waiting times: operations management, which aims to reduce actual, objective waiting times (perspective 1), and perception management, which assists service providers in controlling customers' subjective waiting experiences (perspective 2). The choice of a specific scholarly viewpoint on the issue (managing perceptions in the previous example of lengthy and frequent delays, for example) gives us access to a wealth of information that will help us to shape our own thinking and spark valuable insights on the?problem under study.

Identifying the issue

You will have to spend time in the early phases of the research process switching between problem statement (re)defining and preliminary research (such as an initial review of the literature). Prior to creating a preliminary draft of your problem statement, you are unable to determine what data is relevant. A more refined problem statement may necessitate the collection of additional information, which may prompt you to reframe the problem statement. On the other hand, awareness and understanding of current work and viewpoints in the subject area may alter your perspective on the problem and encourage you to refine it.

The "key" to solving your problem with clarity and focus is to identify the main concepts in the initial draft of the problem statement. Which verbs, objects, and sub-jects are there in the following statement? "The managers for whom the newly installed information system was intended are not using it."

PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Preliminary research should assist the researcher in better understanding the problem and in reducing it to a researchable topic for study once the broad problem area has been identified. Finding the answers to queries like "What is the problem?" "Why does the problem exist?" "Is the problem important?" and "What are the benefits of solving the problem?" should be made easier by preliminary research. While the type of problem being addressed determines the specific type of information required for this purpose, it can be broadly categorized under two headings: 1. Details about the organization and its surroundings, or the surrounding circumstances. 2. Details regarding the relevant subject.

The type of data that needs to be collected

A Brief Overview of the Organization

Acquiring information on pertinent contextual factors will be helpful when speaking intelligently with managers and other staff members within the organization and bringing up pertinent issues pertaining to the issue at hand. In light of this, a thorough understanding of these variables may prove beneficial in determining the exact nature of the problem. Some examples of background information are the following contextual factors, which can be found in a variety of sources.

1. The company's founding and history, including when it was founded, what industry it operates in, how quickly it has grown, who owns and controls it, and other details.

2. Size, either in terms of assets or staff, or both.

3. Ideology and purpose of the charter.

4. Location: national, international, or regional.

5. Materials– human and others.

6. Interdependent relationships with other institutions and the external environment.

7. Financial position during the previous five to ten years, and relevant financial data.

8. Details about structural elements (roles and positions, for example) in the company, the quantity of workers at every position, the channels of communication, the control systems, and the workflow systems).

9. Details regarding the management ideology.

Some aspects may need to be investigated in more detail than others, depending on the circumstances, the problem being investigated, and the nature of some of the initial responses that were received. A variety of primary and/or secondary data collection techniques, including interviews and a review of corporate records and archives, may be used to gather the contextual information mentioned. Secondary data are those that are obtained from already-existing sources. Data that have been gathered by others for purposes other than the current study's goal are known as secondary data. A few examples of secondary data sources are statistical bulletins, Publications from the government, information that is available from both inside and outside the organization, whether it is published or unpublished, business websites, and the Internet. Prior to usage, secondary data should have its characteristics and worth thoroughly assessed.

Early on in the research process, gathering secondary data is frequently very beneficial. However, there are situations when gathering information is best accomplished through other techniques like observation, interviewing subjects, or giving out questionnaires to individuals. Primary data are those that the researcher collects directly from the source for the particular goal of the study.

Keep in mind that in the early phases of the research process, it is frequently advantageous to collect primary and secondary data at the same time. Secondary data can facilitate more meaningful focus on pertinent aspects of the problem during interviews. Conversely, interviews may also aid in the search for pertinent information in secondary sources.

SETTINGS FOR APPRAISAL OF SECONDARY DATA

Data timeliness

When was the information gathered? It is critical that the information is current. To ensure that you have the most recent information available, check the dates on all of your secondary data. Correctness of the information Why were the data being presented, and for what purpose? The purpose of creating a web page is predetermined. Online content from commercial organizations frequently represents their own interests or may be biased in some way. Who gathered the information? How were the information gathered? What qualifications does the author have on this topic? Who collected the data and how they were collected can have an impact on the accuracy of the information. Do the data agree with information from other sources?

Pertinence of the information

Not every piece of secondary data you discover will be pertinent to your specific requirements. Even though the data is current and accurate, it might not be relevant to your study questions and objectives.

The data's expenses

What is the cost of the data? Do the advantages exceed the disadvantages? Would it be better to gather additional data? Would it be better to gather data using other (primary?) methods?

INFO ON THE TOPIC OR AREA OF SUBJECT MATTER

The literature, or the corpus of knowledge at your disposal as a researcher, might also assist you in considering and/or comprehending the issue more fully. You can make sure you have a solid awareness and understanding of current work and viewpoints on the subject by carefully reading textbooks, journal articles, conference proceedings, and other published and unpublished materials (see Chapter 4 for a detailed discussion on how to review the literature). This aids in the organization of your research based on previously completed work and the precise and clear formulation of the problem statement.

A RESEARCH OF THE ANTECEDENTS OF CUSTOMER ANGER IN THE LITERATURE

Beyond customer dissatisfaction, it has been observed that customer rage causes bad word-of-mouth communication and switching (Bougie, Peters, & Zeelenberg, 2003; Dubé & Maute, 1996; Nyer, 1997; Taylor, 1994). Given that it's also a typical emotional reaction to subpar services, it could have a significant impact on the productivity and financial success of service companies. These factors make it imperative for service providers to make an effort to defuse client ire. Service providers must be aware of the typical triggers for customer ire in order to prevent this type of behavior. It's surprising that little is known about what causes customers to become irate.

There is a lack of systematic research on the events that trigger anger in service settings, despite the fact that we know that waiting for service (Folkes, Koletsky & Graham, 1987; Taylor, 1994) and core service failures (Dubé and Maute, 1996) are the main causes of anger. To fill this gap, this exploratory study examines and classifies situations that usually cause customers to become irate. As a result, it offers a conceptual model of how services might provoke client rage as well as recommendations for how service providers can prevent this.

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