T & Spice Executive Summary
Turmeric & Spice (T&S) wants a survey consisting of one hundred percent of the spice importers in their business conducted. The average rate of response for T&S currently is approximately thirty percent, which is significantly less than half of all potential responses. The population being surveyed of importers includes 100 importers worldwide. T&S should utilize a metric based plan (Hale, 2007) to build collaboration from the 100 importers to ensure a minimum of thirty percent participation from the importers. The plan should include a baseline (Moseley & Dessinger, 2010) during the building and implementation the survey. A data analysis also will constitute part of the plan. The total plan must add value through measurement and evaluation (Pershing, 2006; Moseley & Dessinger, 2010).
The unique …show more content…
aspect of this plan is that it needs to be in the form of a survey, at the request of T&S. As a survey, certain elements need to be considered such as the survey questions have to be unbiased and cannot be construed as loaded questions (Hale, 2007). The main goal of the survey is to attain buy-in from as many of the importers as possible. The information would be collected from the stakeholders and subsequently analyzed for use by T&S. If the data is collected and analyzed properly, T&S can use the information to their advantage in several different ways other than the survey.
T&S would benefit most if the metrics were designed similarly to the way that the metrics are designed on a balanced scorecard.
In this instance, the metrics would all be focused on creating buy-in. The first step of the plan would be to evaluate the activities that create buy-in. Creating a buy-in will increase loyalty, service, and the assurance that the importers will continue serving T&S business needs (Tisch & Weber, 2007). The main metrics used in the survey would therefore include questions for the importers to rate the most important aspects of loyal business relationships. Additional survey questions to create buy-in would include having the importers rate various aspects of international transactions on a scale. By doing so, it would add value to the company that T&S could use. It would also serve as a baseline for an effective evaluation method that can be used currently and in the future. The remaining survey questions would be based on the specific aspects of the industry that T&S executives believe are important. By using a survey format that allows T&S key personnel to design the survey, it automatically increases the value that it will hold for
T&S.
The primary obstacle will remain the focus of the plan, which is to acquire a minimum of thirty percent of the importers to respond to the survey. In order to guarantee basic buy-in for responses to the email and electronic survey to the most reasonable extent possible, the survey needs to offer something of value for the respondents. This can be in the form of building upon a relationship of loyalty or even in forming a network of the importers through the initiative of a survey. The importers must be able to gain some degree of value from responding to the survey, or many of the importers may see the survey as a drain on their time and resources with no incentive to participate. By building relationships through the survey, it will add value to T&S because it will increase the response rate, under all reasonable probabilities.
The timing of the survey is an important measure and should be given as much attention as the metrics that are created as a part of the survey process. The timing aspects should be thoroughly discussed with T&S executives. The researcher should also perform sufficient industry research to determine the best possible timing stages of the survey and the survey delivery (Juli, 2011). Spice companies in all countries are typically busier during the holiday season (Christmas and New Year 's), as celebrated respectively in each country. The response rate and buy-in will be inherently lower if the survey is built and distributed during a holiday season. Importers will have time frames that are compromised and this would not be conducive to receiving a high response rate of at least thirty percent, which is our minimum desired rate.
The analysis of the data is a critical part of the plan. The main concept regarding data analysis is that the data can only be analyzed to the greatest extent by how well the data is generated. In this case, we are working with a survey. This means that the survey contents must be well-crafted and unbiased. Survey contents cannot be considered loaded, including loaded questions or statements (Bryman & Bell, 2003). If such contents are included, the data analysis will be skewed due to the improper design and building stages of the survey. This will directly affect the buy-in from the importers responding to the survey. The data analysis should be performed in a way that adds value to the organization (Moseley & Dessinger, 2010). Analyzing metrics used will lead to further measurements on the data to create a cycle of learning and discovery from the metrics included. This is the ultimate goal of any research project, including surveys. The plan will be constructed in a way that covers all program measures to add value to the results in addition to covering untargeted areas.
The evaluation methods chosen are also a main point of the data analysis for the plan. The evaluation methods must enrich the value for the firm, but cannot enrich the data because it would unintentionally bias the results (Hale, 2007). The objective will be achieved when value is added to T&S through the provisions of accurate data measurement in the plan by a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics that are integrated into the data analysis. By combining both qualitative and quantitative results, an additional dimension of value from the survey will be created.
References
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2003). Business research methods. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hale, J. A. (2007). The performance consultant 's fieldbook: Tools and techniques for improving organizations and people (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Juli, T. (2011). Leadership principles for project success. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Moseley, J. L & Dessinger, J.C. (2010). Handbook of improving performance in the workplace. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Pershing, J. A. (2006). Handbook of human performance technology: principles, practices, and potential (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Tisch, J. M. (2007). Chocolates on the pillow aren 't enough: reinventing the customer experience. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
The unique …show more content…
aspect of this plan is that it needs to be in the form of a survey, at the request of T&S. As a survey, certain elements need to be considered such as the survey questions have to be unbiased and cannot be construed as loaded questions (Hale, 2007). The main goal of the survey is to attain buy-in from as many of the importers as possible. The information would be collected from the stakeholders and subsequently analyzed for use by T&S. If the data is collected and analyzed properly, T&S can use the information to their advantage in several different ways other than the survey.
T&S would benefit most if the metrics were designed similarly to the way that the metrics are designed on a balanced scorecard.
In this instance, the metrics would all be focused on creating buy-in. The first step of the plan would be to evaluate the activities that create buy-in. Creating a buy-in will increase loyalty, service, and the assurance that the importers will continue serving T&S business needs (Tisch & Weber, 2007). The main metrics used in the survey would therefore include questions for the importers to rate the most important aspects of loyal business relationships. Additional survey questions to create buy-in would include having the importers rate various aspects of international transactions on a scale. By doing so, it would add value to the company that T&S could use. It would also serve as a baseline for an effective evaluation method that can be used currently and in the future. The remaining survey questions would be based on the specific aspects of the industry that T&S executives believe are important. By using a survey format that allows T&S key personnel to design the survey, it automatically increases the value that it will hold for
T&S.
The primary obstacle will remain the focus of the plan, which is to acquire a minimum of thirty percent of the importers to respond to the survey. In order to guarantee basic buy-in for responses to the email and electronic survey to the most reasonable extent possible, the survey needs to offer something of value for the respondents. This can be in the form of building upon a relationship of loyalty or even in forming a network of the importers through the initiative of a survey. The importers must be able to gain some degree of value from responding to the survey, or many of the importers may see the survey as a drain on their time and resources with no incentive to participate. By building relationships through the survey, it will add value to T&S because it will increase the response rate, under all reasonable probabilities.
The timing of the survey is an important measure and should be given as much attention as the metrics that are created as a part of the survey process. The timing aspects should be thoroughly discussed with T&S executives. The researcher should also perform sufficient industry research to determine the best possible timing stages of the survey and the survey delivery (Juli, 2011). Spice companies in all countries are typically busier during the holiday season (Christmas and New Year 's), as celebrated respectively in each country. The response rate and buy-in will be inherently lower if the survey is built and distributed during a holiday season. Importers will have time frames that are compromised and this would not be conducive to receiving a high response rate of at least thirty percent, which is our minimum desired rate.
The analysis of the data is a critical part of the plan. The main concept regarding data analysis is that the data can only be analyzed to the greatest extent by how well the data is generated. In this case, we are working with a survey. This means that the survey contents must be well-crafted and unbiased. Survey contents cannot be considered loaded, including loaded questions or statements (Bryman & Bell, 2003). If such contents are included, the data analysis will be skewed due to the improper design and building stages of the survey. This will directly affect the buy-in from the importers responding to the survey. The data analysis should be performed in a way that adds value to the organization (Moseley & Dessinger, 2010). Analyzing metrics used will lead to further measurements on the data to create a cycle of learning and discovery from the metrics included. This is the ultimate goal of any research project, including surveys. The plan will be constructed in a way that covers all program measures to add value to the results in addition to covering untargeted areas.
The evaluation methods chosen are also a main point of the data analysis for the plan. The evaluation methods must enrich the value for the firm, but cannot enrich the data because it would unintentionally bias the results (Hale, 2007). The objective will be achieved when value is added to T&S through the provisions of accurate data measurement in the plan by a combination of qualitative and quantitative metrics that are integrated into the data analysis. By combining both qualitative and quantitative results, an additional dimension of value from the survey will be created.
References
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2003). Business research methods. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Hale, J. A. (2007). The performance consultant 's fieldbook: Tools and techniques for improving organizations and people (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Juli, T. (2011). Leadership principles for project success. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Moseley, J. L & Dessinger, J.C. (2010). Handbook of improving performance in the workplace. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Pershing, J. A. (2006). Handbook of human performance technology: principles, practices, and potential (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.
Tisch, J. M. (2007). Chocolates on the pillow aren 't enough: reinventing the customer experience. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.