Mgt 220 - Decision-Making Process Paper

Decision-Making Process Paper

Mira Blakey

MGT/220

23August 2012

Dr. Thomas Woodruff

        In order to describe the Business Research Process, one must be familiar with the steps. The steps are not necessarily set in stone, or in any particular order but generally address the following: 1. Clarifying the Research Question.  For example patients complained about the length of time it takes to get a scheduled appointment with their designated doctor.  The management dilemma was the delay in scheduled appointments was due to the high turnover rate of doctors on a military installation creating multiple vacancies.  2.  Define the management question.  What can be done to improve the delay between appointments?  Brings the next point of defining the research question(s): Should the patient be assigned to a team of doctor(s) instead of one doctor due to the shortage of doctors?  Can the number of appointments be reduced by conducting a more thorough examination during previous visits? Should we hire Physician Assistants, Nurse Practioners  to help augment the patient load?  Can the Registered Nurses treat some of the patient issues?   3.  The Research Proposal.   This will likely require something to be drafted in writing.  Now one must come up with a design to resolve the issue.  This is no simple task.  All areas of concerns should be addressed with a viable solution.  Can a survey be administered to gather feedback from the patients?  What questions should be asked?  How will funding be provided?  What type of training is necessary to accomplish the goal?  How can we remain objective when gathering data? 4. Once we have created the design, a measurement of data collection is necessary. The data should target the audience and capture the information needed.  5.  Data Collection and Preparation is another step in the research process.  It determines the scale to which data will be collected.  It can vary from one specialty clinic to the entire Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center for Fort Hood, Texas. The data is then prepared in such a way that it ensures consistency.  Computers make it possible to merge editing, coding, and data entry into fewer steps even when the final analysis may be run on a larger system. (  )  After the data has been collected, researchers can conduct data analysis and interpretation.  It is taking a large sum of data and condensing it so it can be used more easily.  For example: 1.  How would you suggest improving your appointment times?  2. Would you consider a weekend appointment? 3.  Are you willing to speak to a nurse concerning your healthcare issues? 6.  The final step, is to report the results.  Once you have gathered all of the information, it is time to present your findings with recommendations to the managers for the purpose of decision making.