The Role of the Management at British Midland International - Research Proposal Example

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT Departmental Ethics Committee Application for Ethical Approval for Research - Expedited Review Form For use by Ethics Committee Reviewers only Reviewed by  (name):-  Recommendation  Required Action:       Section I: Project Details 1 Name of applicant 2 Email address       3 Name of the other researchers (co-applicants)       4 Title of the study Research proposal to assess the role of the management at British midland international 5 Brief description of the project (3000 words max) As per the title, there is a proposed research on the role of management at BMI in promoting the company. This research shall investigate the role of for the senior management team at British Midland International in promoting the company. The research shall seek to find out the different options that managers have in the decision making process and what their role is in promoting the company. The research shall put into consideration contextual issues such as the fact that BMI is a subsidiary of Lufthansa and that the firm has in the last few years been making losses. This research will seek to find out the contribution of management to the firms present situation and also find out its role in steering the company forward both in the long term and medium term. The research proposes to use a stratified sample size of eight respondents from 3-4 senior management levels at BMI. This is different from a random sample as a random sample might include irrelevant respondent a problem which is taken care of by stratified sampling. The respondents will be informed and about the research and their cooperation sought. The coordination between the researcher and the respondents is paramount as face to face interviews will be conducted. The researcher will make arrangements about the time of the interviews and location which is convenient to both. The BMI headquarters will be most convenient because the research assumes that majority if not all the respondents are stationed there. The research will be relatively small in scale. It uses qualitative paradigm due to the nature of the data to be gathered. The data collected will be tabulated where possible and responses from the participants recorded. Given that the data to be collected is descriptive in nature, the research will treat managerial decisions as the independent variables while organisational performance will be the dependent variable. The interview questions shall be guided by the research question listed in the proposal. The research questions posed to the managers shall be placed in the context of their job description and roles and responsibilities. The assumption here is that the questions asked during the interviews will capture the role managers in organisations in general in promoting the corporate brand and enhancing the achievement of the set goals and objectives. The research is informed by management theories about the necessary skills required by manages in order to function effectively. Some of the skills noted in this research are conceptual skills, analytical skills, communication skills among others. However, it must be noted personal traits play a very big role in influencing how managers perform. Some of these are patience, trust, commitment and hard work. Some ethical issues that may arise in this research pertain to the confidentiality of managerial decisions that the participants have made in the past. Some of these decisions if accessed by competitors or other interested parties might hurt the firm. The researcher must thus take utmost care in ensuring that the data collected does not fall in the wrong hands. On the other hand, some of the respondents might reveal some incriminating or offending information about the organisation as whole or fellow managers. Furthermore, the researcher must cultivate trust from respondents in order to obtain sensitive information such as respondent’s personal opinions on fellow managers. Section II: Peer review decision 6 Section III: Research Checklist Yes No 7 Will the study involve recruitment of patients or staff through the NHS (if yes, you will also have to submit an application through NRES (http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/) √ 8 Voluntary consent 1 – Does the study involve participants who are vulnerable or unable to give informed consent? (e.g., children, people with learning disabilities, students) √ 9 Voluntary consent 2 – Does the study involve participants who may feel that are being coerced into participation by the request? (e.g. the researcher’s subordinates in an organisation) √ 10 Voluntary consent 3 - Will it be necessary for participants to take part in the study without their knowledge and consent at the time? (e.g., covert observation) √ 11 Confidentiality 1 - Will the study involve asking sensitive questions? (e.g. drug use, view about others in the organisation) √ 12 Confidentiality 2 - Would it be possible to identify an interviewee if his/her comments were included verbatim in the final report? √ 13 Confidentiality 3 – Will the study reveal data that could be deemed commercially sensitive? √ 14 Inducements - Will financial inducements (other than reasonable expenses and compensation for time) be offered to participants? √ 15 Risks - Could the study induce psychological stress or anxiety or cause harm or negative consequences beyond the risks encountered in normal life? √ If you have answered ‘YES’ to any of the questions 7-15 explain how you intend to reduce any potential risks or harm to those involved in the study (maximum of 200 words). Personal behaviour such as drug use or alcoholism has a bearing on the making decision process. As such, the researcher has to make develop ways to gain the trust of respondents and assure them about the confidentiality of the information revealed. If the information is too sensitive, then the information cannot be recorded or if is recorded, it has to be encoded or encrypted. If the sensitivity of the information is relatively low, then pseudonyms shall be used to identify respondents. Commercially sensitive data will not be revealed to third parties whatsoever. The researcher can assure respondents by signing an oath of confidentiality. This form will be prepared by the researcher and the respondent shall confirm that the researcher has agreed to an oath of silence over sensitive information. Providing sufficient detail at this stage could still permit expedited approval. However the BMS Ethics sub-committee retains the right to refer the application to the BMS Ethics Committee for a second stage review. In such cases, investigators should be aware that this could delay consideration of the application. Department of Business & Management Studies First-Stage Ethics Declaration Form Project Title:- I/We confirm that we have consulted with the Departmental guidelines for ethical approval and reviewed the DCA Ethics checklist. All ethical issues and implications in relation to the above project have been considered and I/We confirm that the above project does not give rise to concerns requiring second-stage ethical approval by the DCA Ethics Committee. Please circle as appropriate: Undergraduate project Taught Postgraduate project Staff Research project Postgraduate Research project Name of researcher/project participants:- Signature:- Date:- Name of Supervisor:- Signature:- Date:- Department of Business & Management Studies Second-Stage Ethics Approval Request Form Please circle as appropriate: Undergraduate project Taught Postgraduate project Staff Research project Postgraduate Research project Name of researcher/project participants:- Outline of Project indicating ethical concern (max 500 words) Some of the data expected from the respondents might be sensitive and maybe incriminating in some instances. The mode of data collection in this research, which is face to face interviews allow the researcher time and space to clarify any ethical issues that may arise in the course of the researcher such as the respondents confidentiality. Apart from this, the basic issues of ethical consent in a research have been taken care by the proposed use of pseudonyms for the respondents. Furthermore the researcher will take an oath to commit him to providing the sensitive data obtained in the research to competitors or other interested third parties without the consent of the respondent. The authenticity of the researcher in conducting this researcher has been verified by the supervisor and the course instructor as allowed by the institution. The purpose of the researcher has been indicated as academic purposes only. Prior to any expected publishing of this research, the researcher retains the copyright. Use of copyrighted secondary materials in assessing the theory surrounding the role of management in organisations is recognised through proper and acknowledgment of contribution of other people other than the researcher. A reference list is provided at the end of the research showing the sources used in the research in developing the theoretical perspective. NB If, following primary consideration of the approval request, the DCA Ethics Committee is unable to give approval, it will invite you to discuss your proposed project with at least two members of the Committee. The aim will be to resolve the issue within 15 working days from the application. Consent or refusal of approval, will be notified in writing by the Chair of the Committee. Read More