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68 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

of research done using subjects to participate in activities in a lab setting, show
different results compared to those found in research done in organizational set-
tings. Additionally, MacCrimmon and Wehrung (1995, 1998, 2001) suggest that
the differences in the measurement tools used in research studies account for the
differences in the findings of managerial risk attitudes.
You will note that the above example first introduces the subject of risk-tak-
ing behaviors and corporate performance, and why it is an important topic to be
studied. Through the literature survey, it identifies the problem to be studied as
one of investigating the factors that account for risk-taking behaviors. It also indi-
cates the important factors to be considered in the research, which would enable
the researcher to formulate a theory, based on which, hypotheses can be for-
mulated and tested.

Example 4.2 ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Organization theorists have defined organizational effectiveness (OE) in various
ways. OE has been described in terms of objectives (Georgopolous & Tannen-
baum, 1957), goals (Etzioni, 1960), efficiency (Katz & Kahn, 1966), resources
acquisition (Yuchtman & Seashore, 1967), employee satisfaction (Cummings,
1977), interdependence (Pfeffer, 1977), and organizational vitality (Colt, 1995). As
Coulter (2002) remarked, there is little consensus on how to conceptualize, mea-
sure, or explain OE. This should, however, not come as a surprise to us since
OE models are essentially value-based classification of the construct (the values
being those of the researchers) and the potential number of models that can be
generated by researchers is virtually limitless. Researchers are now moving away
from a single model and are taking contingency approaches to conceptualizing
OE (Cameron, 1996; Wernerfelt, 1998; Yetley, 2001). However, they are still lim-
iting themselves to examining the impact of the dominant constituencies served
and the organization’s life cycle on OE instead of taking a broader, more dynamic
approach (Dahl, 2001, p. 25).
From the portion of the above extract, several insights can be gained. The lit-
erature review (1) introduces the subject of study (organizational effectiveness),
(2) highlights the problem (that we do not have a good conceptual framework
for understanding what OE is), and (3) summarizes the work done so far on the
topic in a manner that convinces the reader that the researcher has indeed sur-
veyed the work done in the area of OE and wants to contribute to the under-
standing of the concept, taking off on the earlier contingency approaches in a
more creative way. The scholar has carefully paved the way for the next step,
which is to develop a more viable and robust model of organizational effective-
ness. This model will be logically developed, integrating several streams of
research done in other areas (such as cross-cultural management, sociology,
etc.), which will be woven further into the literature review. Once the scholar
has explicated the framework as to what constitutes OE and what the factors that
influence it are, the next step would be to develop testable hypotheses to see if
the new model is indeed viable.