Preparing to Conduct Business Research: Part 1
Guy Powell, Narima Inshan, and Sarah Green
RES/351
December 8th, 2014
Jon Webber
Preparing to Conduct Business Research: Part 1
A crucial issue in any business is safety. If something or someone jeopardizes the safety and stability of a company or organization, proper research should be done to see that this threat does not re-occur (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). When an organization asks its employees for ideas on how to fix the situation, the last thing you expect to happen is for people to begin turning on one another. Unfortunately, in this situation, that is exactly what happened.
The Issue
The Crown Lift Trucks branch in Fresno California has only been open for a few years, but each year, the building has been burglarized. The first year, it was the day that all the electronic devices such as computers and tablets were brought into the branch in order for the employees to conduct business. It was also two days before the alarm system was installed. The escape route was through the building, but the buglers would have to have known the lay out of the building beforehand. The alarm system was installed a few days later, but it was set to notify the Branch Manager instead of the police. On a weekend when most of the employees, as well as the branch manager, were scheduled to be out of town, the office was hit again. With most of the employees out of town, there was no one to respond to the call. The most recent time that it happened was over Thanksgiving weekend 2014. This was right after a shipment of tablets were delivered for the technicians to use and coincidentally, right around the time that a lead technician was transferring to a new branch.
Researcher
Justin is not only an IT guy for the company but also a parts Supervisor. He was asked by many members of upper management to help them resolve the issue and see that it does not happen again. Since he was prior military, a part of him took this as a direct order and his detective skills kicked in. He began asking other employees about how they felt regarding the break-ins. Many of the employees were frustrated that their computers keep being stolen because they have a lot of work to get done, and this sets them back a few days. Two employees in particular began acting very strange and avoided the conversation. He decided to do some research to see how he could stop the theft and help Crown become a safe business.
Avoiding Unethical Research Tactics
When he began his research on how to prevent a fourth burglary, he decided that in order to keep it ethically sound, he needed to avoid things like fabricating data. Without proof and regardless of how logical it may seem, jumping to conclusions is extremely un-ethical (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). If you just make something up and do not provide evidence, it becomes a hypothesis. He also tried to avoid plagiarism at all costs. Stealing others ideas or not giving credit when credit is due is ethically wrong in any research.
Solving the Issue with Business Research
Crown Lift Trucks chose Justin to assist them with the research of the burglaries because of his experience with reading people. It is important to accurately monitor and conduct the necessary research to prevent profit losses for the company. Many businesses strive to ensure that their employees are protected at all times while in the workplace. This research will not only protect the well fare of the company and its integrity, but it will also provide a peace of mind for the employees. I do believe that the burglaries can be prevented by conducting research in the areas that seem to have the most questionable variables. The company should review