Business Problem and Qualitative Research Plan for Coles Supermarket

This report presents a comprehensive qualitative research plan focused on Coles Supermarket, addressing a specific business problem related to competition, technological advancements, and infrastructural inefficiencies. The report begins with background information about Coles, followe...Read More

Qualitative Research
Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1) Background information about the company.....................................................................3
2) Business problem on which the research study is dependent............................................3
3) Literature Review...............................................................................................................4
4) Research question for general problem..............................................................................6
5) Identify a qualitative research method that can be used for supporting the research........6
6) Qualitative Research plan..................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
With the changing business environment it has become important for the organisation to
take necessary steps so that they can efficiently manage the impact of various factors on the
organisation. For determining the need of change within the organisation it is important for the
managers of the organisation to analyse various internal and external factors within the
organisation as with the help of this they identify its influence (Chen, Lee and Wang, 2020). The
change management process is required in the organisation as with the help of this they can
resolves various issues faced by them such as lack of updated technology, inefficient
infrastructure etc. also the impact of the trends can be managed by incorporating change. In this
report the organisation which is taken into consideration is Coles supermarket, which is a retail
and consumer goods suppliers. The report includes that the company faces various general issues
that has impact on the operations. To manage such issues the change management must be
incorporated for which a research is undertaken. In the report, aims and objectives are
determined along with various qualitative research methods that support the completion of the
research.
1) Background information about the company
Coles Supermarket Australia with the trading name Coles is an Australian supermarket that
has been offering a wide variety of consumer services to the customers through their chain. They
have their headquarters in Melbourne and were founded in the year 1914 in Collingwood by
George Coles. The company has employees almost 1,00,000 employees. The company along
with their rival Woolworths cover almost 80 % of the market. Coles has been offering their
services online which enables them to attract new customer and to retain the existing one. In the
year 1960, first supermarket was opened by the company in Melbourne and gradually they
opened their stores in all the capital cities. In the past company had their various private labels
but now they have just seven generic of private label brands.

2) Business problem on which the research study is dependent
The Coles is a supermarket which has been facing various issues such as stiff competition,
lack of upgraded technology and infrastructural inefficiencies. With the help of incorporating
change management within the organisation such issues can be resolved and it can offer various
opportunities to the company for ensuring their sustainability and growth along with competitive
advantage over others (Lubwama, 2020). For this a research will be undertaken that will enable
them to determine various objectives which can facilitate in decision making process for the
company. The formulation of such strategies will offer opportunity as with operations can be
supported and efficient management of the resources can be ensured. The aim and objectives for
undertaking this research are given below:
Aim of the research: The aim of the research is to determine various change management
strategies that can ensure the sustainability and profitability of an organisation. A case study on
Coles.
Objectives of the research:
 To develop an understanding of the concept of change management.
 To identify various strategies that can be adopted by Coles for improving their overall
organisational performance.
 To analyse the benefits and impact of change management strategies on the management
of Coles.
3) Literature Review
Concept of change management
As per according to the view point of Mathar and Gaur, 2020,Change management defined
as a process, techniques and tools that an Organisation undertakes with the motive to manage
individuals in order to accomplish required business objective. With the help of this process
organisation can incorporate successful transactions among individuals through which desired
future of objectives can be ensured. In accordance with Lubwama, 2020, by adapting this aspect
into organizational workplace structure entity can make significant increase in their workplace
efficiency. In context with Coles by implementing change management entity can evaluate its
external and internal processes through which they can support their employees and implement
establish necessary steps for change in order to ensure successful accomplishment of
organisational goals.

Strategies that can be adopted by the Coles for managing and improving their overall
organisational performance
There are wide range of strategies through which organisation can evolve and ensure their
long-term competitive edge in respective industrial segment. Strategies provide guidance to an
entity through which they can ensure their transformation and can fulfil short as well as long
term goals for business improvement (Suresh and Begum, 2020). It has been evaluated that,
Coles operate their services as a supermarket and is facing issues related to high competition and
lack of up-gradation in their technology and infrastructural segment. All these issues have
capability to internally and externally affect business operations of entity and can further lower
down their overall profitability earnings ratio. In order to overcome these issues by undertaking
advantage of certain strategies aid entity to ensure maximum competition retail industrial and
consumer service sector. It important to increase efficiency of taking advantage of software and
sharing through which they can keep their members up to date with status of project. It will
ensure completion of targets in time effective manner. It addition to this, by offering quality
services and products Coles can ensure maximum differentiation in respective industrial sector
and can satisfy customers with distinct services and products.
Along with this in the viewpoint of Chen, Lee and Wang, 2020, education and training also
play key essential role through which entity can strengthen workforce efficiency of their
organisation. In this coal is required to provide professional and educational training to their
employees through which they can increase their strengthen abilities and skills of workers in well
effective manner and can further utilize their knowledge for betterment of organisation. It will
allow entity to utilise their skills at great extent and increase performance of company. In
addition to this has been evaluated that infrastructural inefficiency states towards labour shortage
that decreases entity competitiveness in market segment. Thus, in order to overcome this issue,
Coles is required to invest in their human resource, as this department play key essential role in
increasing overall profitability of company. In the view point of Saffar and Obeidat, 2020 with
the help of new business strategies and HR professionals company can hire skill potential and
qualified employees through which they can accomplish corporate goals in a very define and
effective manner.
Benefits and impact of such strategies on the management of the organisation

According to Ronda Bowen, business irrespective their nature and size has to incorporate
change within their organisation it facilitate them to be competitive and able to satisfy the needs
and wants of the customer. The implementation of such concept ensures that the project of the
company does not fail as with this everybody associated with the change are on board. Along
with this the implementation of the change management strategies enables them to incorporate
change so that the objectives can be achieved efficiently. With the changes in the technology,
infrastructure and the ethical practices the companies can manages their operations, mission and
values along with satisfied customers. This leads to elimination of various general issues faced
by the companies and to grab the opportunity present in the market. The technological change
management strategy will ensure the long term profitability of the company while ethical
changes will facilitate that people tends to follow their leaders which will ensure that they have
same vision (Bark, Kragt and Robson, 2016).
4) Research question for general problem
Research question are the questions which the research aims to answer on the completion. The
research method such as qualitative or quantitative is dependent upon the research questions as
on the basis of such questions only data is gathered by the investigators and are analysed.
Various research questions for this research are given below:
Research Question:
 What does the concept of change management means?
 What are the strategies that can be adopted by the Coles for managing and improving
their overall organisational performance?
 What are the benefits and impact of such strategies on the management of the
organisation?
5) Identify a qualitative research method that can be used for supporting the research
Research methodology is considered to be the process of undertaking research with the
help of various methods on a particular topic. The selection of the method of the research is
dependent upon the nature of the research and its aims and objectives. The selection of the
method enables them to determine the time limit in which the project will be completed by them,
also different methods determine the authenticity and the reliability of the outcome of the
research. Various research methods that can be used in the research are:

 Quantitative method: This is the research in which numerical data are produced and
analysed with the help of various mathematical and statistical methods. They may not
be most suitable for every investigation but are suitable in case detailed understanding
of the particular factors is crucial (Williamson and Whittaker, 2019). Various sources of
quantitative data includes surveys, observations etc.
 Qualitative method: Qualitative research is the one in which the numerical data are not
involved. With the help of this research method in depth analysis of the topic can be
made possible as it facilitate to understand how and why of various things related with
the topic of research. Various sources of this research include interviews, focus groups,
observations etc.
In this research the focus is only on the qualitative research method as with the help of this
the research can understand the issues and opportunities that the Coles have. With the help of
this, the focus can be laid upon the micro level social interaction so that in-depth understanding
can be done (Malaurent and Avison, 2016). Various methods that can be used in this includes:
 Focus groups: In this method the investigator involve small group of participants in a
conversation with the help of which they can gather information related to the research
questions. It can include 5-15 participants at a time. It is generally used by the social
scientist to identify the trends in the community or by the marketer to conduct market
research.
 Interview: The researcher also conduct in-depth interview with the help of which they
can directly speak to person related with the topic of research. One-to-one participation
and interaction can be facilitated. A predetermined list of questions is identified and on
the basis of which the opinion can be taken of the respondents. For this research this
method will be used (Moyers, 2016).
Justification: For this research the interview method will be used as with the help of this
various issues and the opportunities that Coles has can be identified. Along with the impact on
the people with the change management strategies can be identified on the basis of the responses
of the people. As all the people will be asked similar questions then it will be easy for the
researcher to analyse their responses.

6) Qualitative Research plan
A research plan is a document with the help of which various actions related to the research
are identified and along with various methodologies to be adopted. This facilitates the researcher
to complete the project on time and to ensure the authenticity and reliability of the information so
gathered. The research plan for this research for the interview method of qualitative research is
given below:
What type of issues/questions should be explored?
At the time of interviewing the employees of Coles they will be asked different types of
questions that will facilitate the researcher in gathering their opinions and belief about the
company (O'Leary, 2017). The types of questions which will be asked include behavioural
questions, opinion questions, competency question etc. A set of question which will be asked
includes:
 Is implementation of change within the organisation important?
 According to you will change bring improvement in the overall performance of the
organisation? If yes then how?
 Do you think the employees will resist such change?
 Which area must be on the priority of Coles for introducing change such as technology,
infrastructure, employees abilities?
 What do you think such change will be an opportunity or a threat for you?
How many interviews would you recommend?
For analysing the impact of change within the organisation it is important that at least
five employees from each department of the organisation are interviewed as with the help of this
the researcher can draw better result and effective impact on them.
How will you select the sample of research participants?
From each and every department within the organisation five employees will be selected
which are working on different level such as from the inventory department one will be
inventory manager, second will be the assistant inventory manager, third will be inventory
allocator and remaining two will be inventory distributors as they are large in number. Similarly
from other departments the samples will be selected.
Where the interviews should be conducted?

Interview must be organised within in the workplace of the employees as this will ensure
easy accessibility to all the employees at one place and the employees also need not to move to
other place which will save their time as well.
How would you propose the data be analysed?
The information so gathered by the interview will be familiarised with the responses of
every employees on different level. Accordingly various themes will be developed for
familiarised information so that the report formation can be made. With the help of theses theme
the results can be presented on the charts and graphs which can make the understanding better
and effective.
What are the ethical implications of your research, and how will they be addressed?
The ethical implication is must for each and every research as with the help of this it can be
ensured that ethical viewpoint is considered and matters to the investigator. While gathering the
information from the employees it must be ensured that they are treated equal and no such
confidential question is asked which is non-essential to the research. For ensuring this the
investigator must consider honestly, integrity, carefulness and objectivity along with legality so
that the interest and the responses of the employees are kept confidential (Thomas, 2017).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the company need to analyse their business
environment with the aim of managing their operations efficiently. For this they need to
determine various issues faced and opportunities available so that they can ensure their
sustainability by conducting research on them. This report will facilitate them to formulate
various strategies so that they can manage such issues. The information regarding impact of such
strategies on employees and workplace culture can be gathered with the help of taking opinions
and beliefs of the employees through interviews.

REFERENCES
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performance: The moderating role of knowledge sharing. Management Science
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