Category: UNIT 9

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Unit 9, Responses

This is a response to Kwantlen Branda’s blog https://create.twu.ca/kwantlenbrenda/2018/06/27/unit-9-activity-2/

Question: Am I not the only one that see that self-checkouts have a ways to go before they truly make the shopping experience easier? Or will self-checkouts become redundant in retail as we head toward more online sales?

Basically, the country I am in right now does not provide self-checkouts service in the supermarket or other shopping patterns. I think it is due to the huge population which could lead to crowd disorder during checking out or difficulty in supervision. But I did experience once of self-checkouts service in Ikea last year, not Walmart. To be honest, I like self-checkouts. It is convenient and shows the level of civilization of the country. Everyone was waiting quietly in line, the staff of Ikea walked around to see if there was any help needed rather than expressing the feeling of monitoring. I really enjoy this kind of atmosphere full of peace and trust.

Besides, I do not think self-checkouts become redundant comparing with online sales. China is full of online shopping right now due to the prevailing of Taobao. People are crazy about shopping online and I even buy the roll paper, towels, bowls online. Of course, Jack Ma benefits a lot from it, but this kind of consuming pattern do create potential danger. For example, the commodities showed on the web page are not real ones presenting in front of our eyes. Therefore, it is usual that customers feel being cheated and return the goods back to the sellers. Also, the buyers always suffer the huge pressure of credit card bills as the sense of money transaction has been minimized in online shopping. Sometimes you are not aware of the amount of money you have spent until the bills are delivered to your hand. In my opinion, I like to shop in a real mall or market and feel the quality of the goods. Also, I could find a salesperson to ask the questions regarding the good face to face which makes me feel assuring. We are all social creatures and need to build connections with other people with trust. I would like to vote for the increasing use of self-checkouts rather than shopping online.

This is a response to Kunal Singla’s blog https://create.twu.ca/b4ntu/2018/06/27/activity-2-3/

Question: Have you ever been suffered from wrong product ? The product you have seen online but get a totally different one and how you respond to that situation ?

I think I am the perfect one to answer this question. I started shopping online since 2005 when Taobao first came out in China. At that time, it was common to receive a bad product which was completely different from the one showed on the website. Some sellers allowed the buyers to send back the goods and returned the money after negotiating through online chat. Sometimes, I could not even find the seller after receiving a wrong product, and there was nothing I could do about it. However, the huge population in China do contribute a lot to the increasingly prosperous situation of online shopping because there are always buyers. I can vaguely remember the exact time point, but when the returned good service appeared, the untrustworthy transactions disappeared. Nearly all the sellers of Taobao are obliged to offer “7-day unreasonable return” service. It means the buyer could return the goods for no reason in 7 days after receiving the goods. Of course, the goods have to be exactly the way they were when they reached the hands of buyers initially, and the buyers have to afford the delivery fee. This service has significantly assured the online shopping. I used to buy the dresses and clothes online and return the ones do not meet the expectation or are apparently different with the pictures on the page. However, the delivery fee is much less than the total money I have to spend shopping in the real mall including the cost of oil, parking, beverages and snacks. With the returning service and the regulations of the Taobao, the situation of selling the wrong product is completely under controlled.
Hope you will find this response useful.
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Unit 9, Learning Activity 2

I am going to have FedEx Canada be the example. I would like to choose the organization I am familiar with to share more opinions and reflection on this blog. I have a very close friend who had worked for FedEx for a year, and we talked about this company many times.

FedEx:

FedEx is mainly running for the delivery of goods. According to my friend, the division of FedEx she was in also took charge of printing for mailing and posting. She was very enjoying working there with other coworkers. They usually wrapped the packages together, put them in the truck, and waved hands behind the truck. I was so moved by the satisfactory emotion implied in her tone of hard working and harmonious teamwork.

And there is a lot of use of technology in FedEx. The company has designed the official page in beautiful purple colour that you could find from https://www.fedex.com/en-ca/home.html. Also, the company has incorporated the relevant information, such as the location of the FedEx companies and the terms of service, and the diverse business items on the page. It has greatly helped the customers find and proceed to the services they are seeking. For example, the customer could establish an account first to fill in some personal information such as name and Email address; then, he can choose the service he wants and fill the details in another page; further, he could track the record from the page by typing in the codes of the package. As for the staff, my friend mentioned that they had their own information system to compute the time the delivery might need, take record of every package, and so on. The technology has made the delivery service more convenient and effective. Rather than writing the address of the destination and simply waiting for the package to arrive with no idea of its current location, the information on the computer is clearer and the trackable service can create a sense of reliability for the customer which could trigger the intention to choose the FedEx continually.

However, my friend did mention some adverse aspects regarding the technology. First, the company relies too much on the technological means. Since every detail of the packages and all the information were kept in the computer system, it was a complete disaster when the system crashed or the computer died. And they had run into this kind of situation many times. Once it happened, they were unable to keep the work going on anymore and the complaints from the customers appeared day and night. Second, the technological hardware is easy to become outdated. These years, the world is witnessing a series of technological evolution. The high-tech means is updated rapidly, and consequently, the software and the hardware need to be renewed in time. Clearly, the FedEx company was not taking care of this aspect because the staff were complaining about the outdated computers and printers which greatly affected the working efficiency. 

As far as I am concerned, the leaders in the FedEx company should fully exert the ability of foresight in depicting the vision and establishing the long-term goal for the company like John Smart (2015) has strongly suggested. The leaders have to realize that the technological evolution is not a one-time thing. The next step of the technological evolution is unpredictable, and the technological means has become an indispensable factor in the business items. Therefore, it is crucial for the leaders to incorporate foresight in making decisions and equipping the organization. Apparently, the leaders of FedEx should update the systems and buy in computers, printers and hard disks regularly to keep the business and service running at the higher level. Also, my friend had mentioned that the training programs of FedEx company were not well-designed and effective. Considering the widely used teleconference in many organizations, I believe that the FedEx company could resort to it to learn from other organizations. Then the higher manager can impart the new training programs to the store managers of all divisions through teleconference to facilitate the training. At last, there should be a feedback mechanism set in the staff information system. As John Smart (2015) says ” Most stuff happens bottom-up”, it would be necessary for the leaders to keep track with the bottom line of the organization where the real problems and needs rise up. The workers or employees at the bottom line are the people who are actually communicating with the clients and customers. Therefore, devoting more attention to them can get to know the real requirements of the market. Besides, if the workers at the bottom line are equipped with the high-tech devices, they would accomplish the work efficiently and serve the customer effectively. 

Question: I would like to ask a question regarding the ability of foresight. According to Malgeri’s (2010) definition about foresight which “can be considered a behavioural inclination, referring to an individual’s tendency to devote a significant amount of time engaged in thought or activities concerning the future”(para. 1). What are the key traits or abilities of a leader which can contribute to the ability of foresight in your opinion?

References

John M Smart. (2015, April 8). John Smart – Leadership of Tech Change – WFS 2013 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhdWqLNUJns

Malgeri, J. (2010). Organizational foresight and stewardship. Public Manager, 39(4), 39-42.

https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-9/unit-9-learning-activities/

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Unit 9, Response

This is a response to Simarjit Shergill’s post https://create.twu.ca/icandothis/2018/03/01/ldrs-591-activiy-9-3/

Question: Where do you think the results should be discussed in detail? In the results section itself, or in discussion?

I totally agree with Simarjit that the results should be discussed in detail in the results section. It is said clearly in the textbook that “Drawing conclusions involves the researcher making interpretations about the results and evaluating the procedures and results that occurred in the study” (Plano & Creswell, 2015, p. 465). In another word, the conclusion part is mainly about two kinds of information: interpretations and evaluations.

I noticed that Simarjit also mentioned the Discussion section should only focus on the conclusions, authors’ interpretation of results, and the other elements. I could partly agree with this opinion. I do not think the discussion section of all studies should only focus on the seven elements and cannot provide any detailed results. If the researchers need to go back to the detailed results to interpret or evaluate the results in the Discussion section, they can state the necessary results one more time to help the reader better understand the interpretations about the results. Therefore, I suggest that the Discussion section should mainly focus on the conclusions, authors’ interpretation of results, and the other elements.

Reference

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Unit 9, Learning activity 9.3

The most important thing for me about the conclusions section of a high-quality research report is the way in which the researchers depict the limitations of their research.

According to the seven elements of the Conclusion section, I believe each author has his or her own preference to express these elements. I think that except the limitations of the study, the other six elements do not have to be judged extremely rigorous by the other researchers and readers. For example, the summary of the major results can also be concluded through gradually reading each part of the research by the readers. We could compare the summary concluded by ourselves to the one presented in the Conclusion section to see if we have realized the results in the right way. But the limitations of the study is a unique one. Limitations mean weaknesses or problems. They could reflect if the researchers understand their own research in an unbiased, critical way; they also provide a window for the readers to observe the real thoughts of the researchers. Actually, there is no flawless research, and reading any study requires critical thinking (Plano & Creswell, 2015). The readers can perceive the problems after reading the study through own critical thinking and examine the limitations presented by the researchers. If the limitations were insufficient to reveal the weaknesses of the study, it would be possible for us to infer that the researchers are not performing academically or trying to hide some problems.

Additionally, I want to mention the reference list. Not all researchers plan to provide four kinds of back matter in the report, but every research would contain at least the reference list. I usually did not spend too much time on it or examine the information contained in it. But in the assignment 2 of this course, our instructor Professor Strong carefully noted every misinformation in my reference list. At that time, I realized that the reference list was not just simply gathering the information. The accuracy and validity of the information were more important and were of high significance to the audience. Now, I would carefully check the reference list provided not only by myself but also by other researchers.

Question: What kind of strategy would you adopt to evaluate the limitations of the study?

Reference

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Unit 9 Learning Activities

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Unit 9, Learning activity 9.2

Article

Melchar, D. E., & Bosco, S. M. (2010). Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership. Journal of Business Inquiry: Research, Education and Application, 9(1), 74-88.

Quality Criteria

1. The major results are identified and summarized.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The researchers have summarized the results in the Discussion section. In the first sentence of the Discussion section, they have stated that the results are key for answering the research questions

b) The researchers then thoroughly interpret three principal characteristics of the servant leader which are wisdom, organizational stewardship, and altruistic calling.

c) The results for Hypothesis 2 are presented after the interpretation and followed by the implications of the results.

Quality Criteria

2. The results are thoughtfully examined in relation to the literature and personal reflections.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The results are explicitly compared to the prior research (such as Barbuto and Wheeler’s study) in the Result section, not in the Discussion section.

b) The researchers objectively present the results of the quantitative data.

c) As for the qualitative part, I could identify several sentences in the second paragraph of the Discussion section, such as “Certainly, in order for an individual to be considered a good leader, he or she must be trusted to be knowledgeable and competent about the business” (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 84). I prefer to consider them as the researchers’ personal reflections.

Quality Criteria

3. Appropriate implications of the results for practice are identified and justified.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The researchers point out two aspects of implications in the Discussion section, and the suggestions stemming from the study results are clearly advanced.

b) Although the researchers do not explicitly mention the specific-audience group, I tend to believe the leaders in the demanding, high-performance industry will benefit from the knowing the results of the study. The other researchers who would like to explore on this topic would also be benefited as well.

Quality Criteria

4. Thoughtful critiques of the study’s limitations are provided and appropriate for the research approach.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

The researchers have presented two limitations: first, the results may not be generalizable to other types of for-profit environment; second, the sample size was small.

Quality Criteria

5. Suitable implications of the results for future research are identified and justified.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The researchers have suggested that the servant leadership should be studied empirically in other environments.

b) Additionally, they have stated “further examination of the main components of servant leadership, particularly trust, valuing of others and ethical conduct could further expand important knowledge relating to employee empowerment and productivity” (Melchar & Bosco, 2010, p. 85).

Quality Criteria

6. The interpretations are consistent with the study.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The overall conclusions are logical and consistent with the study’s purpose and the research questions.

b) The researchers analyze the results of the two hypotheses, and interpret the implications in a logical way.

Quality Criteria

7. The back matter is appropriate for the study report.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

The researchers provide information including Author Notes (p. 74) and the list of references after the Limitations and Conclusions section.

Total Score = 18 (17-21 = High quality)

References

Melchar, D. E., & Bosco, S. M. (2010). Achieving high organization performance through servant leadership. Journal of Business Inquiry: Research, Education and Application, 9(1), 74-88.

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Unit 9 Learning Activities

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Unit 9, Learning activity 9.1

Peer-review Omolewa’s podcast

https://create.twu.ca/lewa/2018/02/22/ldrs591-unit-8-learning-activity-8-2-podcast/

Quality Criteria

1. The research focuses on a real problem in practice or the local community.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

Omolewa has thoroughly illustrated two problems: helping the female group be aware of the cancer and get access to the treatment and the difficulties of raising funds. The reasons which lead to this problem have been analyzed as well, such as the religious belief and the adverse effect of the culture.

Quality Criteria

2. The researcher is a practitioner and/or collaborates with community members.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) Omolewa is a women health advocate and she has founded LEAH foundation, a non-profit organization that is devoted to the survival of the woman.

b) Omolewa actively collaborates with the team members in her foundation in a respectful way.

Quality Criteria

3. The research process includes careful reflection about the problem.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) Omolewa and her co-researchers have collected relevant information and talked with others in the organization and local community. They have analyzed the reasons leading to the current practices, such as the local female are not willing to attend the cancer diagnostic and screening programmes and hardly raising funds for this project.

b) Omolewa actively reflected on her own professional development and shared with her colleagues, participants, and people who have the same passion as she do.

Quality Criteria

4. Multiple sources of good information are used.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) Omolewa explicitly mentioned that she would first explore relevant literature to see if there is any useful suggestions to solve the problem of fundings.

b) Then, she would gather available information and sources through all the non-profit organizations which face the same challenges.

Quality Criteria

5. A good action plan is advanced.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) Omolewa decided to adopt the mixed methods research design for her action plan. I hold the same opinion because the nature of her problem is quite complicated and requires considering a lot of aspects from different perspectives. Therefore, the mixed methods research design is the best choice.

b) She would design surveys to gather quantitative data from the community, together with organizing interviews with individuals and organizations to find out what have previously supported the non-profit communities. After the analyzation of both quantitative and qualitative data, she believes that there will be some particular findings for her situation.

Quality Criteria

6. The study used a good action research process.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The research process includes reflecting and thinking, looking and gathering information, and acting.

b) Omolewa mentioned that she and the team would monitor the outcomes of the solutions and make adjustment accordingly. Clearly, the process includes multiple spirals.

Quality Criteria

7. The study results in meaningful actions to address the problem.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

I believe the actions took by Omolewa and her team will provide workable solutions to the problem. Also, I deem that she will conquer the leadership issue as well for detecting the strong will through the podcast. In addition, I would like to suggest Omolewa reunite the publicity in the action research to gain wider opinions and perspectives. (I am not sure whether this suggestion is appropriate for her situation. )

Total Score = 21 (17-21 = High quality)

Omolewa has planned a well-thought-out action research. I personally admire her courage and passion and really wish the research would work out.

Reference

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.