Business HL IA - Good Question?

1

is this a good question for the business hl ia?

How can "Company Whatever" improve its motivation techniques to increase staff productivity?

or should i change it to

Should ""Company Whatever" improve its motivation techniques to increase staff productivity?

i want to do something on motivation...please help!

Reply 1

G A B R I E L

djmean

is this a good question for the business hl ia?

How can "Company Whatever" improve its motivation techniques to increase staff productivity?

or should i change it to

Should ""Company Whatever" improve its motivation techniques to increase staff productivity?

i want to do something on motivation...please help!

I'd say it is a good question because it is focused. You're looking at one specific aspect (motivation under the the human resources section) which is what you want since you only have 2000 words. (Much like having a question which revolves around finance or marketing, etc).

Your second question "Should" is the better one because that way you can actually do an analysis. You should look at company performance currently, do some primary research by talking to managers and employees, and some secondary research as to the effect of motivation on productivity (sort of an application of what you've learned in class on motivation to this specific company). For example, a questionnaire with employees which is like.. if the company did this x, would you do y, or ask the employees what would motivate them.

That way in your conclusions & recommendations you can actually say that based on your findings the company should employ motivation techniques and perhaps recommend a specific method(s) which employees in your primary research have concurred on. Since your question was "should" you can answer it by saying "yes they should" or "no they shouldn't". You can make up results, just make it believable. Motivation would almost always increase productivity, so you should be answering yes they should.

Reply 2

mnm1231

Hey I'm doing the same thing, but the problem is that when i showed my teacher the question what motivation techniques can be used to increase staff productivity and motivation, the problem she said was that it is hard to measure something like motivation and productivity, productivity is hard since it is a manufacturing company with machines, but it does have many blue collar engineers working. I am looking for a way to get past this and still use human resources and motivation as my topic.

Reply 3

G A B R I E L

You're looking at a manufacturing company? That should be easy because you directly relate output and quality before and after. You could even say that because of the nature of the company you decided to explore this aspect for your IA (rather than finance, marketing, etc).

The point about the IA is not to see results. You're not going to write this over a 3 month period and examine whether your motivation techniques actually do increase motivation, productivity etc. You need to look at the company now, how it is, and decide on a topic you could investigate.

The classic example I think teachers and IB always say is "should company X by a new photocopier". Its small, its precise, focuses on 1 aspect (finance), and you can write in depth about it as you have 2000 words.

So your question could be like "Should company X employ motivational techniques to increase output" or what ever. You could briefly state what you've learned in class and through independent research as your secondary research (i.e. various motivation theorys like maslow's hierarchy or herzberg's two factor theory and how the research shows that these motivate people). Then do some primary research. Ask the boss if they've thought about this, or what they do to motivate employs or increase productivty. You may find that you can write something like "Currently company X employs several motivation techniques such as bonuses, but other techniques such as ... may have more of an effect". Then follow through with interviews with employees. Do they feel motivated? How would they like to be motivated? What would motivate them?

And then in your conclusion you could say "Company X should employ motivation techniques" and recommend specific techniques. "The interviews conducted with employees shows that they would find these techniques effective". Something to that effect I guess.

Reply 4

mnm1231

Original post by G A B R I E L

You're looking at a manufacturing company? That should be easy because you directly relate output and quality before and after. You could even say that because of the nature of the company you decided to explore this aspect for your IA (rather than finance, marketing, etc).

The point about the IA is not to see results. You're not going to write this over a 3 month period and examine whether your motivation techniques actually do increase motivation, productivity etc. You need to look at the company now, how it is, and decide on a topic you could investigate.

The classic example I think teachers and IB always say is "should company X by a new photocopier". Its small, its precise, focuses on 1 aspect (finance), and you can write in depth about it as you have 2000 words.

So your question could be like "Should company X employ motivational techniques to increase output" or what ever. You could briefly state what you've learned in class and through independent research as your secondary research (i.e. various motivation theorys like maslow's hierarchy or herzberg's two factor theory and how the research shows that these motivate people). Then do some primary research. Ask the boss if they've thought about this, or what they do to motivate employs or increase productivty. You may find that you can write something like "Currently company X employs several motivation techniques such as bonuses, but other techniques such as ... may have more of an effect". Then follow through with interviews with employees. Do they feel motivated? How would they like to be motivated? What would motivate them?

And then in your conclusion you could say "Company X should employ motivation techniques" and recommend specific techniques. "The interviews conducted with employees shows that they would find these techniques effective". Something to that effect I guess.

hey man thanks, i am taking your advise, lol i already did it like this before i read your reply, but you are right, i changed my question to should...company X. And about the whole interview thats exactly what i am going to do. Thank you very much!

Reply 5

devchillls

hey, i am doing my BM IA on motivation too. however the company i am doing it on provides services. so what alterations can i bring inthe research question ?

Reply 6

devchillls

Hey, i am doing the same thing. So what if the company is providing services and not goods?

Reply 7

nik.douz

2

I know this is about your coursework, but i'm also a bit confused about the HL Business IA so here's my question:

What questions should I ask a Pharmacy when conducting an interview for my HL Business IA (coursework). My research proposal is "Should Pharmacy 'whatever' open a new branch location A (the area which it is already in) or location B ( a nearby area, which it is not already in) ?". I'm a bit confused as to what financial data is needed to have a successful interview, and what sort of qualitative questions I should ask? I know I should ask about their objectives, and opportunities and threats, but i'm a bit unsure and confused.

Reply 8

unicornsarah99

1

1.

I need help creating a good IA questions about the Safety of Employees.

and what I could possibly write about in this topic.
Currently I have -
- health and safety management system
- training and awards.
- systems of awards