Business Research Projects For Students

The idea for this book came about one Friday afternoon towards the end of a summer term. I was giving the third project tutorial of the afternoon. The first had been to a BA (Business Studies) student, the second to a part-time MBA student, and the third to a student registered on the Diploma in Personnel Management programme, and a great variety of issues had been dealt with during the course of the time involved. Nevertheless, I noticed that some of the material was common to all three students. I found myself thinking that I was repeating myself, and wanting to get through the basics as quickly as possible so that we could move on to the specifics of each particular project, which we both, each student and I, found more interesting to deal with. Unfortunately, the basics were precisely those topics which I considered essential to the success of any project. What's more, they dealt with the sort of material which wouldn't, on the whole, have occurred spontaneously to many students, and so it was a necessary part of my job to go through them. One or two could be dealt with by issuing a handout, and the student could be referred to the library for some of the rest, but there wasn't a systematic written compilation of all the points that I needed to make.

This second edition of Research Projects for Business and Management Students provides students undertaking extended research with a foundation upon which to build their practice. The author sets out each stage of a research project systematically to allow you to follow along and build an understanding of the processes involved in carrying out in depth pieces of research, as well as the functions of commonly used research methods. Conversation boxes throughout will also help situate your learning by providing examples of commonly asked questions, challenges that may occur while you carry out your research and guidance on how to answer them. Professor Siah Hwee Ang is Professor of International Business and Strategy, inaugural Chair in Business in Asia and Director of the NZ’s Southeast Asia Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Available as an E-Inspection Copy! Go here to order Taking the fear out of writing your business project, this book helps you understand and carry out each step of the research process. With detailed, friendly and engaging support it takes you from the very beginning to the very end. Key features: Chapters are structured around FAQs such as ‘How to choose a research question?’, ‘How do I go about a literature review?’ guiding you towards a full understanding of the research process Workbook tasks help you shape your thoughts on each topic, enabling you to decide your own research question and how you will research it The importance of various ideas is clearly signposted, helping you prioritise your time according to your needs and goals. Templates and checklists from the book are also available for download at the Doing Your Business Research Project companion website at study.sagepub.com/beech This interactive guide is ideal for all Business and Management students about to complete a research project or dissertation.

Almost all higher educational institutions have built some kind of fieldwork project into the advanced stages of their programmes and the research project should integrate theory, practice, knowledge and skills. Students should be able to apply their acquired knowledge and understanding in a manner that indicates a professional approach to their work or vocation, and have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity, and formulate judgements with incomplete or limited information. It is important that they can communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously. Business Research Projects offers the reader a comprehensive framework for going through the successive process steps of the fieldwork project. There is a logbook which provides for each of the ten steps a checklist enabling students to document the progress of their projects and communicate about the project with their coaches and supervisors. Successful projects require specific process knowledge and skills: • Recognition and description of an organisational problem. • Design and organisation of a research project. • Communication with people on different levels within the organisation. • Interviewing, listening, negotiating, giving presentations, persuading people. • Project management. • Developing solutions in collaboration with people in the organisation. • Implementation of accepted solutions.

Almost all higher educational institutions have built some kind of fieldwork project into the advanced stages of their programmes and the research project should integrate theory, practice, knowledge and skills. Students should be able to apply their acquired knowledge and understanding in a manner that indicates a professional approach to their work or vocation, and have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity, and formulate judgements with incomplete or limited information. It is important that they can communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously. Business Research Projects offers the reader a comprehensive framework for going through the successive process steps of the fieldwork project. There is a logbook which provides for each of the ten steps a checklist enabling students to document the progress of their projects and communicate about the project with their coaches and supervisors. Successful projects require specific process knowledge and skills: • Recognition and description of an organisational problem. • Design and organisation of a research project. • Communication with people on different levels within the organisation. • Interviewing, listening, negotiating, giving presentations, persuading people. • Project management. • Developing solutions in collaboration with people in the organisation. • Implementation of accepted solutions.