Contributors to the construction of management-concerns diagram in the agile literature review approach

Contributors to the construction of management-concerns diagram in the agile literature review approach

To understand why it is not adequate for a researcher to just interview a senior manager of a client organization for the construction of management-concerns diagram (in the agile literature review approach), one should recognize different types of interview candidates who hold useful viewpoints and knowledge on the problem-situation under study. They are:

Type 1: powerful decision-maker(s): these people hold strong formal authority in the organizational context under study.

Type 2: stakeholder(s): they hold less formal authority (in contrast to type 1), while having vested interests in the problem-situation under study.

Type 3: witnesses: they have insignificant vested interest in the problem-situation under study; but as eyewitnesses in the problem site, they hold some relevant (e.g. useful) viewpoints and observations of the situation that could inform the research investigation by the researcher.

Finally, the management-concerns diagram is to be co-created by the interview candidates and the researcher; thus, the researcher has to employ his/her critical thinking and intellectual knowledge to produce the management-concerns diagram in a way that also meets his/her academic interest (e.g. in specific management subjects or topics for MBA students).

In short: total contributors to the construction of management-concerns diagram (A) = types of interview candidates (B) + the researcher (C)

That means, the researcher (e.g. an MBA student doing dissertation project) should not just interview one interviewee and captures only the interviewee viewpoint to produce the management-concerns diagram.

Basic reading: the generic form of the management-concerns diagram

Some clarification on ethical form and informed consent form: some comments

The one from google drive is from the university ethical platform. I download from the university  ethical platform and post it on my google drive to make it easier for students to download from there also, Jacky. The other staff may not know what you are talking about when you mention google drive (in this case created by me). 

There are no such things called consent form and ethical form (too simple a saying) as two separate form-filling tasks; there is a university ethical platform to fill in all ethical considerations for review by the supervisor and external examiner. The informed consent form is, under certain circumstances, required to be uploaded on the university ethical website (you could call it an ethical form - an analogy of its interface). The requirement of informed consent is a topic in research ethics. This requirement originates from the medical field: https://josephho33.blogspot.com/2024/04/e-resource-on-informed-consent-and.html. (video resource on informed consent). The informed consent topic is a major one on research ethics; to do revision, study my blog note: https://josephho33.blogspot.com/2021/11/on-basic-ethics-concepts-and-ethics.html. There is a lengthy video on research ethics included in this blog note. The topic of research ethics has been covered in my research project lecture. 

The consent form template from Sunderland university can be adapted by you (the student) to produce a specific gatekeeper consent form and specific informed consent forms. Such adaptation requires information from the student's research project proposal.

You could study many other examples of consent forms, via google search, to work out your own consent forms. Then draft your forms and seek for your supervisor's advice/ comments. UK staff are also very helpful to provide feedback on the ethical platform on aspects that need to be clarified. 

I think one can explore the possibility to ask chatgpt to produce informed consent forms to you based on your specific requirement. 

e-resource on informed consent and informed consent form

 e-resource, mainly videos, on informed consent and informed consent form

1. How to read an informed consent form.

2. Evolution of informed consent process.

Excel technique to draw agile literature review approach diagrams - e-resource

 Excel technique to draw agile literature review approach diagrams - e-resource (videos)

1. About drawing arrows

2. About drawing boxes

3. Changing the Arrow Type of a Connector

4. About Excel grid line

Avoid requirement of submitting a gatekeeper informed consent form: a note

Avoid requirement of submitting a gatekeeper informed consent form: a note on research ethics for my MBA students

For MBA students doing dissertation projects, it is increasingly becoming more difficult to obtain a gatekeeper consent form (which is required if the student wants to study a particular organizational unit and its internal information (e.g. via interview of its staff and examination of its internal documents, etc). There is a way to avoid doing so. Essentially, this implies avoiding to collect primary and secondary internal (e.g. organizational specific) data of the organizational unit concerned.

The suggested research method practice: revise your research objective such that you only collect data not to do with the internal information of organizations. For example, you could interview your friends on their opinion about the general management concerns of the retail sector in a particular place (e.g. Hong Kong) [case 1], but not to learn their opinion (e.g. they being employees of Watsons HK) about the management concerns of a particular company, (e.g. Watsons HK) [case 2]. For case 1, there is no need to provide a gatekeeper informed consent form  from a specific organization (note **), while , for case 2, you need to provide a gatekeeper informed consent form from an authorized manager of Watsons HK. This is because, for case 2, you intend to gather internal information (e.g. Watsons HK employee opinions on Watsons HK). It is very likely that the university will reject your ethical form application for case 2 if you are not able to submit a proper gatekeeper informed consent form from Watsons HK.

Note **: if you request a manager of a particular company to introduce colleagues to you conduct opinion survey about the broader business/ industry trends, it probably is useful (nice to do?) to seek for informed consent from the manager concerned. In this case, ask the manager to fill in a gatekeeper informed consent form.

*** you need to make sure that your revised research method (no gathering of internal data of a specific organization) is useful to address your (revised) research objective (e.g. not specific organization-related).   To revise the dissertation research objective set properly, it is highly recommend to review the supportive management concerns diagram or research gap-related diagrams as propounded in the agile literature review approach.

The nature of dissertation: e-resources (videos)

 The nature of dissertation: e-resources (videos)

1. What is a dissertation?

2. What is a dissertation?

3. What is a dissertation?

4. What Is a Dissertation & Basic Dissertation Overview and Format for Grad Students

5. Difference between thesis and dissertation (discussion mainly at PhD level)

6. Characteristics of research

Related reading: a study note on dissertation project characteristics.

Business dissertation project types and their associated tasks: a summary table for the ALRA

Business dissertation project types and their associated tasks: a summary table for the ALRA:

• Type 1 project: consulting-oriented.
• Type 2 project: academic-oriented.

Note: For academic-oriented project type, task 4, the researcher could use the academic literature review tree-b in lieu of the theoretical framework B.

References:

1. Collections of blog notes on ALRA 2019,  2018, 2022, 2023 and 2024 [total 5 volumes].

2.  ALRA articles.