The research topic for a qualitative study was To investigate the presence, use and effectiveness of crisis management plans in differently sized companies. The collapse of giant energy and commodities company-Enron-in early 2000 was a revelation in crisis management. Although embroiled in financial fraud, massive debts, human resource wrangles and other issues that need to be addressed as crises, many companies both big and small have failed to institute crisis management plans (Hodak, 2007). A study into crisis management requires for the establishment of descriptive rather than quantitative issues. In this case, the qualitative study shall be looking at the nature and effectiveness of response to crisis such as financial fraud, human resource wrangles, debts, adverse impacts of a business on the society among other issues.
The qualitative aspects of theses crises shall be evaluated against the company structures that are put in place to guard against adverse effects of crises. The research questions look into the effectiveness of the crisis management plan in responding to the crises. Can the company overcome a stronger crisis or one of a different nature? Are the current plans sustainable? These and other questions can obtain a good guidance from the materials on qualitative research from Walden university’s research tutorials.
A webinar from the research tutorials by Walden University on qualitative studies states that qualitative research focuses on the generation of understanding and meaning through rich description (waldenu.edu). Qualitative research focuses on the quality of experience by trying to describe or understand the essence or nature of human experience (Creswell, 2007). As such, qualitative study differs from qualitative studies, which focus on measurable factors by asking questions such as how much? How many? How frequently? Qualitative studies ask questions such as how does it feel? What are or were the causes? These questions provide a framework for the investigation of the overarching research question in this study: How are different companies prepared to handle crises?
As part of borrowing the framework and model of quantitative research, the university tutorial establishes the steps to ensure credibility and validity of their findings (Creswell, 2007). These include prolonged engagement and persistence in data gathering, use of rich, thick descriptions, as well as the use of multiple sources, are just some of the ways.
The qualitative study can be useful in the establishment of relationships in social spheres such as educational studies. In the same manner, the presence of crisis in companies is, usually, usually a result of some social phenomena such as disgruntled employees, poor communication or some other social aspect to which the qualitative study will respond. The university’s tutorial notes that data for qualitative studies can be obtained in a variety of ways such as focus groups, observations, interviews, and existing documents. This study will focus on interviewing management teams in four companies (two big companies-with more than 250 employees and two other SME (small and medium scale employees-with less than 250 employees).
References
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Research Tutorials: Qualitative research Retrieved 10 Oct 2014 from http://streaming.waldenu.edu/hdp/researchtutorials/qualitative/index.html
Hodak, M. (2007) The Enron Scandal, Organizational Behavior Research Center Papers (SSRN), June 4, 2007
