Problem Statement Guidelines:
To ensure that the problem statement is well grounded, answer:
· Who? (Organization name?)
· Where? (Where is the organization for the study?)
· When? (When did the problem start and how long has the problem existed? Use data; be exact.)
· How? (How do you know that this is a problem? How can you measure or quantify this problem?)
· Why? (Why is this a problem? Why should we care? Why is this relevant and worthy of study?)
· What? (What is the real world problem to be addressed? What is the management question? What is the research question?)
· For whom? (For whom is this a problem? Identify the stakeholder groups on whom it has an impact.)
Example: There is an employee morale issue within the [Who] ACME Corporation [Where] located in the Southwestern states of NV and NM of the United States. [When] From October 2008 to March 2009, the voluntary employee turnover rate increased from 10% to 35% (citation). This is problem [Why] because the cost of turnover within the light manufacturing industry is $100, 000.00 per employee (citation).
At this point, stop to: reflect, analyze, critique.
Is the real problem simply the turnover rate or the impact that the cost of turnover may have on ACME?
How do you know this is a problem? [Anchor statistic]
Once you are confident that you have identified the problem and not a symptom of the problem, proceed to complete the problem statement by addressing the purpose or intent of the practical research study.
According to 2008 Acme Survey, the cost of turnover to the ACME Company is $250,000.00 per year, an amount that is no longer sustainable to the company. As a result, the purpose of this business research will be to study the impacts that the cost of turnover may have on the ACME company, as this will impact the year-end profit and loss reports. Further, this business research study will present options to resolve employee turnover and costs associated with recommended options.
