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DISCUSSION QUESTION 139

Scenario C
A manager is intrigued why some people seem to derive joy from work and get energized
by it, while others find it troublesome and frustrating.

Exercise 6.1 A foreman thinks that the low efficiency of the machine tool operators is directly linked
to the high level of fumes emitted in the workshop. He would like to prove this to his
supervisor through a research study.

1. Would this be a causal or a correlational study? Why?
2. Is this an exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing (analytical or predictive)
study? Why?
3. What kind of a study would this be: field study, lab experiment, or field experiment?
Why?
4. What would be the unit of analysis? Why?
5. Would this be a cross-sectional or a longitudinal study? Why?

Exercise 6.2 Many were concerned about the operations of the infamous BCCI, the international bank-
ing institution. If the government had desired to probe into the details, would this inves-
tigation have called for:
1. A causal or correlational study? Why?
2. An exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing study or case analysis? Why?
3. A field study, lab experiment, or field experiment? Why?
4. A cross-sectional or longitudinal study? Why?

Exercise 6.3 Below is an adapted case of BFI from an issue of Business Week. The newly appointed
Chief Executive of BFI desires to conduct a study to effect improvements and asks you to
work out the research design details. After reading the short case that follows, discuss fully
the design decisions that you as a researcher will make to investigate the situation, giving
reasons for your choices.

Tossing Out the Trash at BFI
Brown Ferris Industries (BFI), a waste management company, grew rapidly by
snapping up local dump sites, collection routes, and recycling businesses across the
country and abroad during the 1980s and early 1990s. But while BFI was paying a
lot of money for acquiring collection routes, it had not linked these to the com-
pany-owned landfills, and this cost BFI dearly. As a consequence, it had to pay out-
siders a lot of money to dispose of its trash.
However, BFI’s recycling business was booming, since the profits in recycling
were high. But in the mid 1990s profits from recycling dropped drastically and BFI
finished the fiscal year that ended in September 1996 with a heavy loss. Things have
not improved much since.