QUESTIONNAIRE – Management Consulting

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Individual Assignment 1 – Questionnaire
Developing a questionnaire.

Members of a MBA management-consulting course formed a team to investigate career prospects in Knowledge Management (KM). Their stated research objectives were:
1. to provide an inventory of major U.S. firms that use a KM system,
2. to gather descriptive data on the nature and degree of KM, and
3. to collect information on how knowledge managers are recruited, selected, and prepared for their responsibilities.
The research question was:
“What is the role and scope of knowledge management (KM) in U.S. Fortune 500 companies?”
Because the student research fund was limited, the students restricted their research to Fortune’s top 500 companies. The students selected a mail survey as their data collection method. Their initial plan was to use a screening or qualifying question to establish which companies use KM. Their investigative questions were:
1. What is the incidence of use of the KM systems?
2. Was it considered and not adopted?
3. To what degree is it presently in use?
4. Has it been used in the past and discontinued?
5. What are future expectations regarding its use?
6. How are knowledge managers recruited and selected?
7. What are the qualifications for employment as a knowledge manager?
8. How does the knowledge manager function in the company?
9. How can we classify the characteristics of individuals and companies to discern trends and differences?
The team members developed the following procedure for constructing their questionnaire:
1. Having agreed on the investigative questions, each member attempted to write measurement questions aimed at tapping the essence of each investigative question.
2. Each measurement question was written on a 5-by-8-inch card to facilitate comparisons, revisions, additions, and deletions.
3. At a meeting of the team, all questions were reviewed, duplicates were eliminated, and a general winnowing occurred. The remaining questions were included in questionnaire draft 1, shown in Exhibit E–1.
4. In this first draft, there was no effort to place questions in sequence or to present them graphically or in a tabular form, as they would eventually be seen by respondents.

THERE ARE 5 PARTS TO THIS ASSIGNMENT.
Please answer each part of this assignment using the proposed layout.

Part 1: Comment the challenges that were present in exhibit E-1:
1. Sources of confusion and vagueness;
2. Question value (What useful information does the question provide? Not provide?);
3. Appropriateness of the proposed response formats and suggestions for improvement; and
4. Gaps in question coverage.
Use the following table as a guideline for your questionnaire analysis. You need to analyze ALL the questions individually.
Original Question
Question Value
(What useful info is provided or not provided?)
Sources of confusion and, or vagueness
(Justify your critique)
Gaps in question coverage
(Justify your comments)
Appropriateness of the proposed response.
(Suggest a new format and, or improvement if required)

Part 2: Develop a revised questionnaire and name it E-2:
Based on Part-1, and after discussion, the team members concluded the questionnaire would probably need to be no more than two pages long and contain at most 20 questions.
Develop a new questionnaire filling those gaps and adding the missing information that is required in order to answer the investigative questions and omit the useless questions as justified in part 1.
In this new draft, the questions need to be in a planned sequence, have response formats chosen, and have graphic arrangements selected.
Make sure you organize your questionnaire in quantitative and qualitative sections.
The combination questionnaire needs to be formatted so that it can be printed on both sides of an 11-by-17-inch sheet of paper, folded in booklet form to 8 1/2-by-11 inches.

Part 3: Develop a methodology for analyzing the survey data:
Based on Part-2, develop an Excel spreadsheet containing TWO worksheets:
One worksheet is for analyzing the quantitative data.
Include the quantitative analysis criteria using relevant descriptive statistics.
The other worksheet is for analyzing the qualitative data. Include the kind of analysis criteria that would fit this part of the analysis by describing what you will be looking for, like – key words, concepts, trends, and so on.

Part 4: Propose survey hypotheses:
Based on Part-3, develop a set of hypotheses (at least two, no more than four) that you would want to verify (validate/invalidate) using the results of your survey.
Suggest a criteria that will need to be met in order to claim the validation or invalidation of your hypotheses.

Part 5: Cover letter:
Write a one-page cover letter to the participants introducing them to this revised questionnaire. Do not forget the ethics and marketing requirements of your letter.

EXHIBIT E–1 Preliminary Questionnaire, Knowledge Manager Study—Draft 1
1. What is your position in the company?
2. Is your company engaged primarily in industrial products, consumer products, or both?
3. Does your company use knowledge managers?
4. How many knowledge managers does the company have?
5. Would you please give or include a job description of your company’s knowledge manager position?
6. How long have knowledge managers been used in your company?
7. Has a knowledge management (KM) system been used and dropped in your company? If yes, why was it dropped?
8. Has a KM system ever been considered but never adopted in your company? If yes, why was it not adopted?
9. Are there any plans for the adoption of a KM system in the future?
10. What percentage of your knowledge managers come directly from each of the following sources? Campuses, within the company, other companies, other (list).
11. If knowledge managers come from within the company, what department or departments do they come from? Sales, marketing, production, advertising, other (list).
12. If knowledge manager s come from outside the company (other than campuses), what department or departments do they come from? Product manager, sales, marketing, production, advertising, other (list).
13. If knowledge manager s are recruited directly from campuses, what, if any, are typical degrees required?
14. Rank on a scale from 1 to 5 the relative importance of each of the following qualifications for a knowledge manager
15. (1 denotes the greatest importance): education, age, work experience, personality, and creativity.
16. If knowledge manager s are recruited from within the company, what is the average age, length of work experience (with the company), and educational background?
17. If knowledge manager s are recruited from outside the company (not including campuses), what is the average age, length of work experience, and educational background?
18. What functions does the knowledge manager actually perform in day-to-day activities, and what percentage of time is spent on each?
19. Of those functions listed above, which, if any, does the knowledge manager have final authority over?
20. To whom does the knowledge manager report?
21. Does your company have a structured training program for KM? If yes, please explain.
22. On the basis of which of the following is the knowledge manager evaluated? Market share, ROI, sales volume, profits, other (list).
23. What were the objectives of the company in instituting the KM concept?
24. How successful has the KM concept been in fulfilling the objectives set for it?
25. What were the characteristics of the KM concept that contributed to the fulfillment of these objectives?
26. What elements, if any, of the KM system did not adequately contribute to the fulfillment of the objectives?
27. What specific actions, if any, have been taken to deal with the inadequacies listed in the question above?
28. If your company is currently planning any broad revisions in the present KM program, please describe.

A useful reference website: http://www.managementhelp.org/staffing/outsrcng/consult/consult.htm

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