Research Methods and Project Management

This assignment delves into the fundamentals of research methodology within the context of project management. It examines various research approaches and designs, emphasizing their relevance to understanding stakeholder behavior and project success. The assignment also highlights the importance of questionnaires as a data collection tool and provides insights into Gantt chart construction for effective project planning and execution.

MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1. Aim and objective of Waitrose..............................................................................................3
P2. Project management plan.......................................................................................................4
2. Project management plan.........................................................................................................5
P3. Gantt chart.............................................................................................................................9
P4. Small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods.................9
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................12
P5 Research analyses and data using tools and techniques.......................................................12
P6 Recommendation..................................................................................................................14
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................15
P7 Reflection on the value of undertaking the research to meet with the objective..................15
References......................................................................................................................................16

LO 1
P1. Aim and objective of Waitrose
Topic: To identify the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on marketing department
for achieving the objectives.
Background of study:
To survive in the competitive era, it is essential to have an eye on corporate social
responsibilities. With the help of CSR activities, organizations can gain competitive advantage in
the market. It is a beneficial tool that supports in increasing sales of company. By this way,
profitability of the organization can get enhanced (Bryman and Bell, 2014). Further, it is
important to understand the activities of CSR and way in which John Lewis Partnership can gain
advantage through the same. Present project is based on the impact of corporate social
responsibility program on profitability and sustainability. With the help of present report, CSR
and its impact on marketing department will be discussed.
Aim: To identify the impact of corporate social responsibility on the marketing department – A
case study on Waitrose
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of CSR and marketing
 To understand the impact of CSR on marketing department of Waitrose
 To understand the role of CSR in promoting financial sustainability and profitability To recommended strategies which can help in increasing the sales of Waitrose through
CSR activities
Research question
 What is the meaning of corporate social responsibility in the organization?
 What is the impact of corporate social responsibility on marketing department of
Waitrose?
 How role of CSR help in promoting financial sustainability and profitability in
organization?
P2. Project management plan
Task Name
Research project
Planning of activities

Research topic finding
Preparing problem statements
Setting time frame and allotment of resources
Execution of plan
Carrying out literature review
Selection of research methodology
Calculating the costs of project
Analyzing data and interpretation
Evaluation of results and outcomes
Completion of project
Drawing conclusion and recommendations
Proper documentation of results
Submission of report

2. Project management plan
This project is based on (Waitrose)johnlwis partnership which is having good chain of
supermarket in UK. It will discus the schedule of the project and will describe work breakdown
structure and Gantt chart.
Executive Summary
Report is based on (Waitrose)johnlwis partnership which is popular brand in the field of
supermarket. Study discusses impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on marketing
department for achieving the objectives.
Introduction
(Waitrose)johnlwis partnership is the well known firm, it has strong supermarket chain in
the United Kingdom. Entity is planning to get engaged in corporate social responsibilities to
enhance its sustainability and gaining competitive advantage. Study will discuss scope of
company and effectiveness of CSR activities in meeting with organizational goal.
Scope (3objective)
 To understand CSR role in promoting financial profitability by 30% till the end of 2018.
 To increase sales revenues by 25% till the end of 2017 by getting engaged into CSR
activities.
 To find out strategies through which (Waitrose)johnlwis partnership can market its
products effectively.
The main objective of (Waitrose)johnlwis partnership is to enhance sales. For that it is
essential that cited firm gain attention of mass audience and provide them satisfactory services. It
is possible if entity get engaged into CSR activities. By this way marketing department will be
able to gain attention of consumers and they will be positive towards the brand. This will help in
increasing sales and improving its brand image as well.
Quality
In order to ensure the quality project manager will supervise activities of employees. Individual
will conduct time to time meeting with staff members and will discuss progress. This will help in
maintaining quality in the organization.
Budget
Staff budget-200
Running expenses-175
Capital-150

Sr Description Monthly Annual 11 Years
Staff 150 1800 19800
Project manager 50 600 6600
Accountant 50 600 6600
Runing
Rent 75 900 9900
Utiliites 50 600 6600
Operational costs 50 600 6600
Capital
Equipment 150 1800 19800
Total 575 6900 75900
Human Resources
Sr Staff position Responsibilities
Project manager To schedule activities,
monitor performance,
guide team members
Accountant Allocation of
resources,
management of cash
flow and recording of
all financial
transactions
Technical staff Installation of
software, measuring

performance of
computers

Assumptions
 Staff members have relevant experience
 Sufficient financial resources Good coordination between team members and project manager
Communication plan
Communication will be done through face to face meetings. Project manager will call all
staff members in order to discuss their performance and progress of project. In every 7 days
meeting will be conducted in training room. After face to face meeting, project manager will
email to all involved persons regarding further actions.
Risk management
- Financial risk, getting finance and money on time
It is major risk in the current project, to manage this risk project manager has to allocate
resources well and have to pay attention on reducing wastage so that project can be completed
within pre- decided budget.
- HR risk, having qualified staff, who know their roles and responsibilities
Project manager has to analysis skills of candidates and accordingly individual has to hire them
in the project. Manager has to allot them work as per their skills and experience.
- Operational risk
In order to minimize operational risk, project manager has to monitor activities time to time. By
looking at progress report and by taking feedback from staff members this risk can be measured
and can make strategy to minimize it.
- PM risk,
Project manager has to schedule activities well and have to monitor the progress. This
can help in managing project well.
External risks
Political and economic risk are major risk, to mitigate this issue project manager has to
forecast the things well and accordingly have to make contingency plan.

P3. Gantt chart
LO 2
P4. Small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods
Name
Age:
Gender:
1. Do you think corporate social responsibility is important for the growth of Waitrose?
 Yes
 No
2. Do you think there is positive relationship between CSR and company's profitability and
sustainability?
 Yes
 No
3. What is the main problem in Waitrose?
 Low sales
 Poor stakeholder benefit
 Unstable financial situation
4. Do you think CSR activities will positively put an impact on the profitability of company?
 Yes
 No
5. Is there any other department which can get affected by the CSR activities, apart from
marketing?
 Administration
 Production
 Finance
6. Recommend strategy through which company can get positive results by CSR program

_____________________________________________________________________
Theme 1
1. Corporate social responsibility is important
for the growth of Waitrose?
Yes 4
No 1
Interpretation: From the above graph, it can be said that four sales managers have said
that yes CSR is important for the growth of organization. However, one sales manager has
refused that it is not that much important. So, it can be interpreted that CSR definitely put a
positive impact and by this way, sales of company can get improved to a high extent. It will help
in increasing revenues of organization and by this way, financial stability of Waitrose will get
stronger (Clarke and Fujimura, 2014.).
Theme 2
There is positive relationship between CSR and
company's profitability and sustainability?
Yes 3
No 2
Interpretation: From the above presentation, it can be said that three sales managers said
that there is positive relationship between CSR and profitability. However, two managers have
said no for the same as according to them there is no relationship between both the concepts. So,
from the research, it can be interpreted that corporate social responsibilities can help in
increasing the profitability of Waitrose to a great extent. By this way, cash inflow will be
managed in the organization that would help in enhancing the sales of cited firm and there will
be financial stability in the organization (Dumay and Cai, 2015.).
Theme 3
Main problem in the Waitrose?

Low sales 3
Poor Stakeholder benefit 1
Unstable financial situation 1
Interpretation: From the above research it can be said that currently Waitrose is facing
many problems. Three sales managers have said that the main issue in the cited form is that its
sales volume is very low. One manager has said that as company is unable to give proper benefit
to stakeholders that is why people do not trust on it. one managers have said that unstable
financial condition is the main problem in the organization. So it can be interpreted that low sales
and unstable financial conditions are major issues (Flick, 2015). So it is very necessary that cited
firm look upon it and take proper action so that its situation can get improved.
Theme 4
CSR activities will positively put an impact on
the profitability of company.
Yes 4
No 1
Interpretation: From the above research. it is analyzed that 4 sales manager have said that
CSR activities will positively put an impact on the profitability but one manager said that it
negatively affects the profits of firm. Therefore, it can be interpreted that corporate social
responsibility is the major factor and with the help of this, cited firm can improve its financial
performance and gain competitive advantage in the corporate market (Simonsohn, Nelson and
Simmons, 2017).
Theme 5
Other department which can get affected by the
CSR activities, apart from marketing
Administration 1

Production 2
operation 1
Finance 1
Interpretation: From the above research it can be said that Apart from marketing
department there are many other departments which can get affected by the corporate social
responsibility program. Two sales managers have said that finance and production department
will get affected to great extent. Whereas one manager has said that administration department
will also get affected by CSR activities (Tarone, Gass and Cohen, 2013). So in can be
interpreted that if Waitroseim work on corporate social responsibility then sales of the cited firm
can get improved by this cash inflow will get increased. That will enhance profitability in the
organization and there will be sufficient financial resources for further development. Apart from
this, availability of sufficient financial resources will help to reduce produce cost of the
company. So both department will get affected alone with marketing by CSR.
LO 3
P5 Research analyses and data using tools and techniques Research design: It is a set of procedures that is used by the researcher to measure the
variables. By this way scholar can identify the problems and can evaluate it significantly.
With the help of research design all activities can be conducted in an appropriate manner
(Mackey and Gass, 2015). Selection of improper research design an affect the study and
findings. Report has explained the impact of CSR on marketing department to promote
profitability and financial sustainability in the Waitroseim. Research philosophy: It is the belief of the researcher regarding data collection and
analyses (Müller and et.al, 2013.). That is completely depend upon the assumption of
scholar and is strategy related to research. With the help of this concept scholar can
gather accurate and appropriate data in effective manner. Generally there are several
types of philosophies such as interpretvitism, realism and positivism. Scholar has used
the interpretvism philosophy for collecting the qualitative information. With the help of

this philosophy impact of CSR on the marketing department in promoting profitability
and financial stability can be understand effectively (Nicholas and Steyn, 2012). Research approach: It is the plan through which actual problems can be addressed
significantly and can make effective strategy to resolve it. There are three types of
research approaches; deductive, inductive and abductive. Inductive approach is generally
used by the scholar for in depth research which start with the observation and develop
new concepts. Whereas deductive approach is generally used by the researcher for testing
the theory, after that hypotheses is being developed by the scholar (Zakariazadeh, Jadid
and Siano, 2014). For carrying out the research, scholar has used the inductive approach,
with the help of this concept individual has developed a hypotheses and has identified the
impact of CSR on the marketing in the cited firm. For present research inductive research
approach was suitable one, as construction of theory has helped in identifying the real
impact on corportae social responsibility on the organization like Waitroseim (Flyvbjerg,
2014). Data collection: It is part of research methodology and information are collected by the
different sources. With the help of relevant collected data researcher has gained success
and achieved its objective of project. Primary and secondary are two main sources of data
collection. In the primary research, scholar collect the data by own through questionnaire
or survey. Whereas in the secondary data individual used already present data via
internet, books, journals (Mir, and Pinnington, 2014). With the help of both sources
reliability and feasibility of the information can be identified. For the present proposal
researcher has gathered data through questionnaire. Questions have been asked by the
sales manager of the Waitroseim, but scholar has also taken support of secondary data for
getting the accurate result about the topic. Data analyses: It is an essential part of entire research project. With the help of this tool
research can attain objective significantly and can draw a valid conclusion. For analyzing
the data, scholar can used several techniques such as qualitative analyses, quantitative
etc. Quantitative research is based on the figures and statics. Scholar uses SPSS for
getting valid findings and to draw a conclusion (Pemsel and Wiewiora, 2013). Apart from
this Z test, descriptive test are other techniques which are used for the quantitative
analyses. Researcher has taken support of qualitative analyses and it has used thematic

analyses for the research. With the help of graphs, charts scholar has identified the impact
of corporate social responsibility on the marketing department in the Waitroseim.
 Research limitation: Scholar has tried to put his best efforts so that it can achieve the
objective of the project. But somehow individual was not having sufficient time and
resources. Due to this some of the tools and techniques were not used by the scholar. Due
of availability of lack of resources researcher has used the qualitative method otherwise
individual would have used the advanced software for getting better results (Beringer,
Jonas and Kock, 2013).
P6 Recommendation
From the above research project it is analyses the corporate social responsibility is one of
the important factor and impact on the overall working of the organization. It impacts on the
profitability and financial sustainability of the cited firm to great extent. From the research it is
found that Waitroseim is currently facing the issue of low sales volume. That is why currently its
profit or revenue is very low. For overcoming from the issue, cited firm can use several
suggestions:
 It needs to identify the needs of employees and customers. By knowing about their
requirements cited firm will be able to provide them quality products hat would improve
sales volume of the company immediately.
 If Waitroseim wants positive impact of CSR then it can involve its workers in decision
making process. As sales executive better know about the market treads and they will be
able to tell more specifically about the market demand. That would help in modifying its
practices and meet with the needs of consumers.
 Cited firm needs to focus on the producing such products and services which are
environment friendly. By this way demand of the products will get enhanced that would
help in reducing the production cost of the company. That would help in increasing profit
of the company to great extent.
 Apart from this Waitroseim can train its staff members so that they can identify the needs
of consumers and can provide them quality services. That would help in satisfying the
consumers by this way sales will get raised up and organizational profit will get
improved.
 Cited firm can focus on stakeholder benefits by this way it would be able to enhance trust
and satisfaction level of employees in the organization.

 Waitroseim can implement CSR activities in the workplace by this way recycling can
help in reducing the operational cost of the cited firm. That would help in utilizing the
financial resources well.
 For financial sustainability it is essential to manage economic activities well. That is only
possible with the help of sound financial planning. Finance manager can allocate
sufficient funds to all activities by this way funds will be managed well and close
monitoring will help in minimizing the wastage.
LO 4
P7 Reflection on the value of undertaking the research to meet with the objective
From the above research it is identified that some of the research methods must be
considered by the scholar for conducting the research well. While carry out the research I found
out that research planning needs to be done significantly. Researcher has to decide all activities
and have to schedule all things in systematic manner. Proper monitoring and controlling can help
in successfully completion of the project and in achieving aims and objective of entire research.
Further I have observed that by making Gantt chart all activities and their time length can be
identified effectively by this way project can be completed on time. Both data collection methods
primary and secondary are useful for the research. But it is very important to analyses the data
for getting accurate results. I have improved my all learning skills while conducting this
research. Qualitative and quantitative techniques are useful that can give positive result and can
help in accomplishing the objective significantly. I have learned about the research approcaheds
and designs. I also get to know about questionnaire and Gantt chart which play a significant role
in the project management.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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life sciences. Princeton University Press.
Dumay, J. and Cai, L., 2015. Using content analysis as a research methodology for investigating
intellectual capital disclosure: a critique. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 16(1), pp.121-
155.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Flyvbjerg, B., 2014. What you should know about megaprojects and why: an overview. Project
Management Journal. 45(2). pp. 6-19.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
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