Managing Data with Microsoft Excel - Research Paper Example

Interpretation of data in MS Excel can possibly involve various activities as offered by its feature. These include but are not limited to collation, filtering, visualization, and processing of data.

Collation is the major role played by Excel. It involves gathering items that are related together into a solitary location, the spreadsheet. This aids in facilitating the interpretation of data as only those records that are related are kept together. The organization of data in the spreadsheet also enhances the clarity and neatness of the records, making access and retrieval easy and faster. Filtering is also another important feature offered by Excel. The data sets can also be easily visualized, making the work of the managers easy and more efficient to perform.         

What are the major benefits of using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software?

SPSS can be defined as an integrated collection of tools for the analysis of data commonly used and applied by social scientist researchers ( Mckeh & David, 2004). It is a computer-based software package for quantitative data analysis commonly used for the analysis of statistical data and other data management tasks. SPSS offers predictive analytics, a common feature that is beneficial to all businesses regardless of their industry. This feature involves predicting changes in the future trends in selling patterns. The results are then translated quickly into a number of harmonized decisions that aid in management and planning for future trends. This helps organizations to take caution of possible risks of failure in the future, thus adjusting their operations to fit the situation ( Wagner, 2011). This saves money and improves customer satisfaction, thus ensuring the continued success of the business. Future losses are prevented before occurring.    

What potential legal or ethical issues could arise if the information gained in a survey was used to create an ideal profile of characteristics that the company looked for when hiring employees?

When one uses the data garnered in a survey as a tool to develop a profile of features to be used by the company when hiring workers and call that Ideal, it could mean a stagger in the ethics of business. This is equated to having a mold of potential employees and calling them ideal (Cooper $ Vault, 2009). Each of them will be diversified in their skills and talents in his or her own ways. The uniqueness that individuals have in the workplace contributes to the corporation. Each worker contributes by helping others using their own special skills. It would therefore legally be seen as being discriminatory to have an “ideal worker”, on the basis of laid characteristics from the survey. The set of features derived from a survey will be on the basis of the best part of each of the individuals involved in the survey. To discriminate persons when recruiting just because they did not fit the “ Ideal Profile” would be termed unethical as it will be seen as a way of telling potential employees that they are inferior and that they do not meet the qualifications and standards of competency. This would be so demoralizing.