Research Methods For Strategic Mangers

London School of Management and Science
BTEC LEVEL 7 Extended Diploma (Professional) in Strategic Management

And Leadership (QCF)
Unit 16: Research Methods for Strategic Mangers
Research Methods for Strategic Managers
Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 1

 Select a research question (AC1)
Research question:
“Identifying and calculating the level of the mental satisfaction of the clients and also the quality of
the services offered by the Indian call centres”
Based on the base paper which is valid publication in the field of management:
Jaiswal,A.K.(2008) ‘Customer satisfaction and service quality measurement in Indian call centers’,
International journal on Managing service quality,18,4,pp.405-416.[Online]. Available at:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0960-
4529&volume=18&issue=4&articleid=1734984&show=pdf [accessed on: 27th Jun 2011]
Explain the factors that contribute to the process of successful research question selection. Justify
the choice of research question (AC 1.1, AC1.2, AC1.3)
Factors which contribute to the successful research question selection are as follows;
1. It should be based on the educational factors and it should have valid reference in the field
of management. There should be a valid international journal publication to support it. It
should contribute some thing to the field for the future research and strictly not a specific
recommendation to the organizations

2. The researcher must have relevant experience in the field and he should know the topic
better; he should not be forced under any circumstance to choose the topic as it will affect
the level of his involvement in the research
3. It should be a original idea and copy or the interpretation will not contribute new things in
the research
4. There must be a good review of the literatures respect to the research topic
5. Make sure the topic is feasible in the real time with the available cost, time and other
resources
6. Ensure the data collection is possible and it satisfies all the ethical issues. Certain topics
chosen will not be valid ethical and it is better to avoid choosing such controversial topics
Justification for the choice of the research question:

This question has been chosen specifically because now a days the advent of the MNC’s
they have started to outsource some of the non value added services to the other parts of the
world where the cost is less and one such service is the BPO where they outsource the
customer maintenance. In this the call centres take care of the queries of the customers by
attending the incoming calls or calling the customers outgoing calls. Thus in this process
their main aim is the customer satisfaction and the better process management.
This topic is under one of the hot discussion and is based on the valid publications in the
Emerald. Hence this has a strong support and the customer satisfaction and the factors
influencing them is always an interest to the researcher as he has spent some time in this
field.
 Background to the problem/issue (AC1)

Explanation of the problem/issue and justify why it is important, both from an organisational and a
personal perspective.

This research thus deals with the process of how the clients decide on one particular service
and how the organizations rate their services. This topic is not only confined to the BPO
industry but to almost all the organizations but due to the time constraint this work has been
specified only to this topic.
There are several problems observed in relation to this and one of the common problem observed in
this process is the measure of the quality. In this process several models like SERVQUAL and
SERVPREF are used. But the major problems faced by the organizations is that how effective they
have been in converting this model for their needs and how they have adapted it effectively as in
reality most of the models are not effective or the organizations chose them wrongly which both
don’t serves the purpose and in the end the customers are affected as they don’t receive the
expected quality of the service. Hence in the perspective of the organization they can get a huge loss
or in the perspective of the individual customer when they are not served better they might lose
some data like the call centres for the bank applications have to be dealt in great care and in this
case there are probability for the customers to lose their money also.
Hence measuring the quality using the right parameters, effectively assessing the customer
satisfaction by using the right methods will help in preventing the suffering on both the ends.

 Research Questions & Objectives (AC1)
Research questions:
1. What are the different dimensions on the quality and how the organizations perceive them?
2. What are the major GAPS felt in the real time implementation of the quality?
3. In any outsourced country do they assume or alter any of the factors with respect to quality
and if so how they affect the targeted customers?
4. What are the factors which improve the quality of the service offered and what are the basic
measures to measure the QOS of the customers?
5. How to evaluate the effectiveness of the quality model adapted by them? How to monitor
the quality requirements and standards are being followed in the outsourced countries?
The main objective of this work is to identify the factors which prevent the choice of the
right quality model, factors which affect the customer service quality and working on the
identification of the factors which will ensure reliable quality standards to the customers.
 Conduct a literature review ( AC2)

Demonstrate knowledge of relevant literature by identifying key debates: concepts and theories
within the topic area. Discuss how the proposal fits into wider debates and how the literature will
be utilised to inform your research (AC2.1, AC2.2, and AC 4.3)
Critical literature review:
According to the reports of Nasscom(2006), the call centre industry is considered to be the next
future of India as it has generated a revenue of over five and half billion US dollars. So it is
considered as one of the most emerging industries in the world.
As per the opinion of the earlier researchers like Oliver(1997), customer satisfaction is the process
in which they work on the satisfaction of the customers in the different perspectives by the final
outcomes can be either satisfied or not satisfied. Hence this process is very simple assessment tool
to see the level of the satisfaction of the customers.
But the later research by Parasuram (1998) defined the process of the quality as the GAP observed
between the expected quality and the received quality. In this process the quality is considered as
the GAP in the process. Where as the effective use of the tools like SERVQUAL will provide more
better results compared to the other models.
Unlike the other models this is considered as one of the best models mainly because of the 5
different aspects in this model with respect to the quality namely;
1. The reliability of the services offered
2. The level of fast or quickness of the service / the turn around time
3. Quality assurance factors
4. Empathy
5. Tangibility of the service offered
Even though customer satisfaction and the service quality are 2 different entities they are
treated as the same in several of the papers. But in reality even though they are different
some relation is existing between them.

For example if the customers are given a good quality of service then they are satisfied and
vice versa. Thus they should ensure to give better quality of the services to the customers
which will help in maintaining better relation with them. (Reichheld, et.al, 1990)
The effectiveness of the quality depends on the model for the quality being followed and how they
are followed as in most of the cases they fail in the right implementation of the model.
 Techniques used to interpret data in a research proposal (Methodology AC3& AC4)

Explanation of an appropriate methodological approach to be adopted. Justification of research
strategy and data collection methods. Explore validity, reliability and generalisability of the
research proposal. (Quantitative and Qualitative methods AC3.1, AC3.2, AC 4.1, AC4.2)

RESEARCH MEATHODOLOGY
The skeleton of the research ort the basic process in which it is conducted is explained in the research methodology
section for the research. It describes all the processes involved in conducting the research. (kumar, 2008)
Research approach
Research
philosophy
Realism
Deductive
Experiment
survey
Mixed method
Cross section
Data collection
& analysis
Case study
Interpretivism
Research strategy
Research choices
Time horizon
Techniques and procedures

Research Philosophies
Positivism:
As this work is based on the issues in the BPO sector in the real time, and quality is one of the
major issues in the real world this is just an mirror image of the real world situations making the
research as a more positive approach.
This work is completely based on the models and the metrics used from the real world BPO sector
and in no place assumptions of processes are being made.
Realism
The work followed here is more realistic as this is based on the data collected from the BPO sectors
in India. The data is collected from all the stake holders in the BPO sector in India and hey are in
the different levels of the management, employees, customers, the bosses, managers, quality check
teams, audit teams, etc.,.. thus in this process the data is collected from the different dimension of
the people related to the BPO sector making this as amore realistic approach. The data is based on
the real time issues with respect to the quality of the services, processes involved and the perception
of the organizations on the quality.
Situational factors:
This work is more focused on the BPO sector in India as the BPO is highly concentrated in the
Indian market and as the researcher is based on India he has chosen the Indian BPO as the base for
the study.

Research Approaches
There are different types of the research approaches and the main ones used here are the Inductive
and the Deductive approaches.
Inductive Approach
This is one of the most difficult approaches as this based on the ideas which are purely proposed by
the researcher. In this case all the strategies, objectives, questions and mainly the hypothesis is
proposed by the researcher which may or may not be valid. Thus an indepth evaluation of this will
take more time for the proof as this not based on any theory or the model which has been published
in the valid journal or the work of the experts in this field. This can be performed only at the
doctorate level of education where the time for the research is ample compared to that of the
research performed during the post graduate level.
(Gill & Johnson, 2002)
3.2.2. Deductive Approach
This work as the name implies is based on the most well known theories accepted in the research
field with the help of the publications and valid journals. Thus the research in this process is more
deduced from the sources and the researcher takes this as the starting point of the research and as
per the guidelines of future research based on the source journal tries to leap forward to propose
novel idea at the end. Hence this work is considered as more deductive in nature compared to the
others. Unlike the inductive method it has less risk as this is based on a valid existing work and all

the processes in this research are mainly based on the proven hypothesis. This kind of the
methodology is less risk and will help in gaining the guaranteed results as this is completely based
on the past success. (Robson, 2002)
In this case the methodology being followed is more deductible in nature mainly because;
1. This is a student level research at the post grad. Level and the over all time given is very
short.
2. The researcher doesn’t intend to risk by formulating completely new hypothesis.
3. More amount of the valid researches have been done in the field of the quality management
and hence it is always easy and intelligent to follow the work from some of the solid proven
existing works and later work on new concepts.
3.3 Research Choices
Quantitative methodology and Qualitative methodology:
The quantitative data is based on the numbers like the customer satisfaction of the call, average
time taken for the call, over all efficiency, customer rejection of the call, etc.., thus these parameters
in the BPO industry are collected which are mostly numeric used for the analysis.
Apart from this the interviews from the customers, employees, and all the other stake holders have
been used which are mostly qualitative to understand the processes and their feed back by means of
the questioners. Thus in this process of research involved the intelligent combination of both the
numeric and the non numeric data ;leading to the multi method as this work is completely based on
the quality and it is essential to incorporate the numeric metrics in this process.

3.3.2 Justification – Multi-method
Multi method is done by;

1. Surveys – this is more focused on the specific targeted population. Helps in gaining the
better quantitative information from them in this process.
2. Interviews –this step helps in collecting the non numeric data from the targets and there is
no focus and this is a general approach.
Comparison: Interviews Vs Surveys

Comparison: Qualitative Vs Quantitative research
Source : (McCullough)

Data Gathering:
In this process the interviews are conducted from the following namely;
1. The people in the upper level of management in the BPO industry
2. The BPO employees who attend the calls
3. The Managers in BPO at various levels
4. The call monitoring agents
5. Quality analyst
6. Customers
7. Outsourcing organization
Interview process is more realistic and reliable approach as the chance of the false data is very less
in this process where as the chance of the errors in the survey conducted through the online sources
like the Email sent to multiple people are higher Direct interviews will help in the process of better
reliable data collected from the people in the various levels of the organization.
Data analysis
Here the collected data are numeric in nature and by using the Matlab and Statistical Package
solutions they are analysed and reported in for of the clear graphs.

3.7 Time Horizon
The approximate time line for the accomplishing the research is as follows;
OCT Nov Dec
Interval II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

of 7
days
I
Identification of
the objectives
and hypothesis
formulation
LR
Interviews to
collect the data
Evaluation and
use of the tools
to analyse the
data collected
Rough draft and
review
Continuous
improvement
1st level report
generation
Corrections on

feed back
Final draft
Audit by the
people outside
and inside the
institution
Final
submission
3.8 Resources
Primary data is based on the data collected from the:
1. Stake holders like the upper management of the BPO
2. Common customers
3. Managers
4. Management
5. Employees at various levels
6. Quality department
Secondary research
Secondary sources
1. Valid research done in the library collect the articles and the previous proposals based on
which they formulate the theory or the supporting evidence for the data collected from the
interviews
2. Based on the other secondary sources like the magazines, valid articles on the news papers,
etc..
3. Valid sources on the internet
Expenses:
1. Collecting the data - Nil
2. Physical mobility - 600
3. Virtual access - 400
4. Printing / Binding - 600
5 Others - 400
------------------
£ 2000
-------------------
LIMITATIONS
1. No access to the higher resources

2. Limited by the time scales
3. As this is a student level proposal care has to be taken to constraint the work based on the
general expenses made. If the spending's exceed certain level then it can't be afforded by the
student
4. Research is limited to the Indian BPO and due to the financial problem the student is limited
from not travelling in the other parts of Asia like China / Pak
5. Getting the acceptance of the management in the BPO sector to study on the existing quality
issues present there becomes impossible in many cases
6. Can't conduct interview from more amount of the people as the whole work is limited by the
time factors
Sampling
Here the total interviews conducted = 100

This is mainly based on the 90 days restriction for the research and hence this is generalized on a
broader spectrum. The people are chosen randomly from the given set of the sample in a random
manor giving this work a random approach.

ETHICAL ISSUES1. Who are the Participants? (Please describe the types of people that will be
involved in your research)
Please tick/give further details as appropriate:

Y/N/further details
Children under 18 N
Children in care N
Individuals with a learning disability N
Individuals suffering from dementia N
Prisoners N
Young offenders (16-21 years old) N
Individuals in Care Homes N
Elderly persons Y
Individuals without legal capacity to consent N
Other Vulnerable Groups N
Specific Ethnic Groups N
Students N
Staff N
2. Number of participants in the study
Over 50 -100 from the BPO industry
3. Is there any link with the investigator (client, friend, etc.)? If there is a link, detail what safeguards to
preserve objectivity and to prevent conflicts of interest are in place?
There is no link of any form between the investigator and the people in the BPO as they are common
employees sharing no personal relations
4. What risks, potential hazards, stress, discomfort or inconvenience to participants may be present?
What steps will be taken to minimize any adverse impact of the research on participants?

This is purely based on the request to the participants and they will no way be forced for the
interviews. This is based on the good will based approach
6. Will written consent be obtained? This is the normal expectation, therefore if your response is that you
do not intend to obtain written consent, please explain in detail.
I have not yet decided about the written consent at this stage but if necessary I will definitely consider
obtaining the written consent.
7. Will you provide written information to participants indicating the nature and purpose of the research,
that their participation is voluntary, that they may withdraw at any time, and providing contact details
for further information about the study? Please provide a copy of any written information to be used.
Yes this research will be used only for the academic purpose and not for any personal gains or the
profits. Their names and all the information with be maintained confidentially in this process
8. Please indicate what steps will be taken to safeguard the anonymity and confidentiality of the
participant’s records [whether the records are of paper, tape recordings, video recordings...], and
confirm that the requirements of the Data Protection Acts will be complied with.
The details obtained from them will be safe guarded in a digitally encrypted formatte on the stand
alone computer and will not be accessible to any of the people involved. Thus this will preserve the
integrity of the people in this process
SUITABILITY:
This is more of a passion to me as I have high experience in the quality sector and BPO industry in
India has always fascinated me on the range of the business it makes

References:
Anderson, E.W. and Sullivan, M.W. (1993), “The antecedents and consequences of customer
satisfaction for firms”, Marketing Science, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 125-43.
Cronin, J.J. and Taylor, S.A. (1992), “Measuring service quality: a re-examination and extension”,
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56, pp. 55-68.
Dabholkar, P.A. and Thorpe, D.I. (1994), “Does customer satisfaction predict shopper
intentions?”, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior,
Vol. 7, pp. 161-71.
NASSCOM (2006), “Key highlights of the IT-ITES sector performance”, available at: www.
nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id ¼ 28485
Oliver, R.L. (1980), “A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction
decisions”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 17, pp. 460-9.
Oliver, R.L. (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw-Hill,

New York, NY.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for
measuring consumer perceptions of service quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, pp. 12-40.
Reichheld, F.F. and Sasser, W.E. Jr (1990), “Zero defections: quality comes to services”, Harvard
Business Review, Vol. 68, pp. 105-11.
• kumar, r. (2008). research methodology. new delhi: APH publishing corporation.
• McCullough, D. (n.d.). MACRO--Quantitative vs Qualitative research. Retrieved october

02, 2011, from macroinc website: www.macroinc.com/html/art/s_qua.html
• Mirkin, B. (2011). Core concepts in Data Analysis : Summarization, Correlation and

Visualization. Springer.
• Nonprobability sampling. (n.d.). Retrieved october 02, 2011, from socialresearchmethods

website: www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampnon.php
• Punch, K. F. (2005). Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches.

London: SAGE Publications.

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London School of Management and Science

BTEC LEVEL 7 Extended Diploma (Professional) in Strategic Management

Unit 16: Research Methods for Strategic Mangers

Research Methods for Strategic Managers

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 1

 Select a research question (AC1)

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 2

Justification for the choice of the research question:

 Background to the problem/issue (AC1)

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 3

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 4

 Research Questions & Objectives (AC1)

 Conduct a literature review ( AC2)

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 5

Critical literature review:

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 6

 Techniques used to interpret data in a research proposal (Methodology AC3& AC4)

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 7

Techniques and procedures

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 8

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 9

3.2.2. Deductive Approach

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 10

3.3 Research Choices

Quantitative methodology and Qualitative methodology:

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 11

3.3.2 Justification – Multi-method

Multi method is done by;

Comparison: Interviews Vs Surveys

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 12

Comparison: Qualitative Vs Quantitative research

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 13

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 14

3.7 Time Horizon

OCT Nov Dec

Interval II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 15

1. No access to the higher resources

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 17

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 18

Please tick/give further details as appropriate:

2. Number of participants in the study

Over 50 -100 from the BPO industry

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 19

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 20

Oliver, R.L. (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw-Hill,

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 21

• kumar, r. (2008). research methodology. new delhi: APH publishing corporation.

• McCullough, D. (n.d.). MACRO--Quantitative vs Qualitative research. Retrieved october

• Mirkin, B. (2011). Core concepts in Data Analysis : Summarization, Correlation and

• Nonprobability sampling. (n.d.). Retrieved october 02, 2011, from socialresearchmethods

• Punch, K. F. (2005). Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Z:\\teachers\BTEC Assignments – Issue 1 17 January 2018 @ LSMS Page 22

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