The notion of "organizational unit of analysis" in MBA research projects, notably of the consulting-oriented type: a note
"One of the most important ideas in a research project is the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis is the major entity that you are analyzing in your study. For instance, any of the following could be a unit of analysis in a study:
- individuals
- groups
- artifacts (books, photos, newspapers)
- geographical units (town, census tract, state)
- social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces, arrests)"
In the context of doing an MBA dissertation project [notably on the consulting-oriented project type], oftentimes, the unit of analysis is a department of an organization, e.g. the IT Department of ABC Bus Service Ltd. In this regard, it can be more clearly called the organizational unit of analysis.
In this case the organizational unit of analysis under investigation is the IT Department while the containing unit is ABC Bus Service Ltd.
Since the MBA student is encouraged to adopt strategic thinking and holistic thinking (notably with the expansionism lens) to study the organizational unit of analysis under investigation [thus also avoiding the pitfall of suboptimization], it is useful to spare some effort to also the management-concerns at the containing unit level. My suggestion in this regard is as follows:
- Research effort at the organizational unit of analysis level: 75-85%
- Research effort at the containing unit level: 15-25%.
The following diagram is illustrative on the relatedness of analysis at the containing organization unit level and the organizational unit of analysis level in terms of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) thinking:
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For a set of ALRA diagrams at the organizational unit of analysis level to also include a few items that belong to the containing unit level could be viewed as a set of squeezed ALRA diagrams. For an organized case study diagnosis with the squeezed ALRA diagrams, the researcher needs to show awareness in his/her line of reasoning at which unit of analysis level (the higher containing level or the lower unit of analysis level) in a specific reasoning stage that he/she is in. [Squeezing the ALRA diagrams simplifies the diagramming and analysis somewhat; besides, to do their dissertation projects, my MBA students are not required to learn contemporary systems thinking, which is required to perform more sophisticated ALRA diagram construction].
Note that some students might be interested in studying a particular business/ industry sector, e.g., the logistics sector in Hong Kong as their organizational unit of analysis. In this case the containing sector could be the whole economy of Hong Kong. See the following table on examples for clarification:
|
Examples |
The containing unit |
The organizational unit of analysis [the dissertation project focus] |
|
Project example 1 |
The regional logistics Industry |
The Logistics Industry of Hong Kong |
|
Project example 2 |
ABC Bus Service Ltd |
The IT Department of ABC Bus Service Ltd. |
|
Project example 3 |
The retail
sector of skincare products for the elderly in Hong Kong |
XYZ Ltd (a
startup) that sells skincare products for the elderly in Hong Kong |
Lastly, with regard to dissertation reporting writing, the organizational unit of analysis should be explicitly indicated in the dissertation project title and the ALRA diagrams, illustrated as follows:
Project title: An investigation on the managerial competence of the customer service department [the organizational unit of analysis] of XYZ Ltd.: a case study research
Management-concerns diagram title: The management-concerns diagram of the customer service department [the organizational unit of analysis] of XYZ Ltd.
Additional readings:
1. a Youtube video on the basic idea of unit of analysis. [note again that this blog note examines a particular kind of unit of analysis called the organizational unit of analysis].
2. The holistic nature of the ALRA. (blog note)
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