CHAPTER TOUR
Role of Research in Business- Definition and Need Information System- Concept and Sources Types of Business Research Theory Building
TOPICS COVERED
Theory
Information Ethical
THEORY BUILDING
THEORY BUILDING
Theories
Theories are nets cast to catch what we call the world: to rationalize, to explain, and to Master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever Finer and finer.
Karl R. Popper
MEANING OF THEORY
A Theory is a coherent set of general propositions, used as principles of explanation of the apparent relationships of certain observed phenomena.
1) 2)
Theories allow generalizations beyond individual facts or situations. Theory deals with abstraction. There are two purposes of Theory: Prediction
Understanding
Concepts
Propositions
Theories
CONCEPT
A Concept or Construct is a generalized idea about a class of objects, attributes, occurrences, or processes that as been given a name.
Concepts are building blocks. Concepts abstract reality, that is concepts are expressed in words that refer to various events or objects.
LADDER OF ABSTRACTION
Level Four: Abstractions
Examples: life, beauty, love, time, success, power, happiness, faith, hope, charity, evil, good.
Level Three: Noun classes: broad group names with little specification.
Examples: Levi jeans, Tina's newborn, Mina, three bedroom house on Street.
Fruit
Banana
Reality
Level 2) The Empirical Level of Variables and Hypotheses At this level we experience reality, that is, we observe or manipulate objects or events
PROPOSITIONS
concepts.
Propositions
Concepts
2) Inductive Reasoning It is a logical process of establishing a general propositioning on the basis of observation of particular facts.
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
1) 2) 3) 4)
Completeness)
Knowledge: broader, richer, and deeper than data or information. It is a blend of information, experience, and
easily
New information technologies and new ways of thinking about data, information, and knowledge lie at the heart of KM.
The purpose of KM is to organize the intellectual capital of an organization in a formally structured way for easy use.
KM assumes that relevant information, intelligently and quickly communicated to the right person, can make the difference between making great decisions or making bad ones.
Knowledge is presented in a way that helps employees comprehend and act on that information.
GIS is an organized collection of computer hardware and software, data, and personnel designed to capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and immediately display information about worldwide business activity.
GIS combine satellite communications, high-speed microcomputers, electronic data interchange, fiber optics, CD-ROM data storage, fax machines, and other advances in interactive media technology.
GIS is a tool for providing past, present, and projected information on internal operations and external activity.
DSS is a computer-based system that helps decision makers confront problems through direct interaction with databases and analytical software.
The purpose of DSS is to store data and transform them into organized information that is easily accessible to a division, department, or functional area of the organization.
Most major corporation have a DSS to facilitate Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
CRM is a DSS that brings together numerous pieces of information about customers and their relationship with the company.
DSS
Input
Database
Software
Output
INPUT MANAGEMENT
Input includes all the numerical, text, voice and image data that enter the DSS.
Information
whole.
system
managers,
systems
analysts,
and
Input can come from sources outside the company as well. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) systems integrate one companys computer system directly with another companys system.
DSS Continue...
DATABASE
It is a collection on raw data or information arranged in a logical manner and organized in a form that can be stored and
processed by a computer.
For Ex: Mailing List of customers When internal data from accounting, finance, sales,
manufacturing, payroll, and other areas of the business are stored in a computer system and arranged in a logical order, they are called Internal Databases.
Data Warehouse is used by managers of information technology to refer to a comprehensive collection of data that describes the extensive operations of an organization, current and historical both.
DSS Continue...
SOFTWARE
A software portion of DSS consists of various types of programs that tell computers, printers, and other hardware what to do.
Business Intelligence (BI) software allows managers to combine and restructure databases, diagnose relationships, discover patterns, estimate variables, and otherwise analyze various databases.
BI software computer programs that permit managers to restructure and analyze data in extensive data warehouses to discover significant patterns and relationships.
DSS Continue...
INTERNET
An internet is a Worldwide network of computers that allows access to information and documents from distant sources; a combination of worldwide communication system and the worlds largest public library, containing a seemingly endless range of information.
WWW refers to that portion of the internet made up of servers that support a retrieval system that organizes information into documents called web pages.
Search Engine: it is a computerized directory that allows anyone to search the www for information in a particular way.
Web Browsers
Two or more people who communicate one to one via e-mail using an internet service provider are also using interactive media.
Because of its vastness, the internet is an especially useful source for scanning many types of changes in the environment
For Ex: Ford Motor Company maintains an Internet-based relationship marketing program that helps automaker scan its environment using the Internet.
3) Information Technology
Pull Technology: When a web page isnt delivered until a browser requests
Smart Agent Software: also named as Smart Agents, Intelligent Agents, and Push Phase Technology.
INTRANETS
An intranet is a companys private data network that uses Internet Standards and technology.
The key difference between the Internet and Intranet is that security software programs, or firewalls, are installed to limit access to only those employees authorized to enter the system.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN
BUSINESS RESEARCH
WHAT IS ETHICS?
A few years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, What does ethics mean to you? Among their replies were the following:
ETHICS
Ethics involves concept of right and wrong, fair and unfair, moral and immoral.
Ethics is a set of moral principles or values which is concerned with the righteousness or wrongness of human behaviour and which guides your conduct in relation to others (for individuals and organizations).
Societal norms are codes of behaviour adopted by a group; they suggest what a member of a group ought to do under given
circumstances.
BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics is a specialized study of moral right and wrong. It concentrates on moral standards as they apply particularly to business policies, institutions, and behaviour.
It does not really involve a special set of ethical standards applicable only to business situations
Business actions are judged by the general ethical standards of society, not by a special set of more permissive standards.
1)
The Researcher
2)
3)
The purpose of research is research Objectivity Misrepresentation of Research Protecting the confidentiality of both parties
Dissemination of FaultyConclusions
Competing Research Proposals
2)
3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)
2)
3) 4)
Privacy
Deception The right to be informed