Unit 2 Research Methodology Higher National Diploma in Hospitality Management

Introduction

Digital technologies refer to the technological solutions that helps the management of organisations to promulgate their profitability and productivity. It includes all types of electronic equipment and applications that assist in reducing the manual efforts of the management and enhancing the effectiveness in the quality of the work (Arts, van der Wal and Adams, 2015). In order to sustain in the competitive environment, it is important for the management of companies to implement precise and appropriate technologies so that growth and development of the organisation can be made. In this context, researcher will focus on analysing the influence of digital technologies on the daily business operations of Tesco.

Tesco is one of the leading retail and supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. As per recent statistics, it was identified that there was an aggregate of 327601 employees working at different stores of Tesco across UK and 133041 employees are working at overseas stores of Tesco. Researcher in this proposal analyses the views of senior authors, researchers and scholars in order to make the proposal more robust. Precise use of research methodologies will be described in the study along with ethical considerations and research limitations. Eventually, with the help of Gantt chart, the activities and timescale will be provided in the research proposal.

Aim And Objective

Aim

The aim of the study is “to analyse the impact of digital technologies on the daily business operations of Tesco”.

Objectives

To underpin the aim of research, researcher has produced objectives which are described as below:

• To identify the meaning of digital technologies
• To analyse the influence of digital technologies on daily business operations at Tesco
• To identify the challenges faced by Tesco in implementing digital technologies
• To recommend Tesco for enhancing the use of digital technology

Research Questions

Research questions are fundamental core of research study. In this context, researcher has prepared research questions which are going to be answered in the research project.

1. What is the meaning of digital technologies?
2. What are the implications of digital technologies at Tesco?
3. What are the challenges faced by Tesco in implementing digital technologies?

Literature Review

In literature review, researcher analyses the relevant articles and journals in order to create effective argument for the subject matter. The motive of literature review is to establish theoretical framework in the study.

Meaning of digital technology

According to Hall, (2015) digital technology refers to the electronic technology that produces, stores and processes data in an effective and efficient manner. These technologies help in enhancing the effectiveness in the quality of work and assists management of the organisation to attract consumers towards the organisation. Technologies are now used in all the departments within the organisation. From finance to human resource, from marketing to manufacturing as well as from supply chain to customer relationship, technologies play a significant role in growth and development of companies. Chaffey, (2015) said that digital technologies are electronic technological systems which programmed to support the management of organisations in reducing their manual efforts.

In the present era, new and innovative technologies are developing rapidly which are used by organisations to enlarge their profits, sales and revenues. Glasper, (2016) said that technologies can be used in numerous ways like; for experimental purposes, to appeal to mobile users, increase convenience for shoppers and to promote retailers online presence. Kirschner and De Bruyckere, (2017) argued that digital technology comes in handy and helps the organisation by providing competitive advantages but it also negatively impacts on employees and cost to the organisation. Technologies are replacing manpower and thus, increasing unemployment rate in the country. Furthermore, in order to handle those technologies effectively, management needs to invest a lot of funds towards training and development of employees.

Influence of digital technology

Wright, (2015) elucidated that technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, social media marketing, communication technologies, etc. have been influencing the organisations and management greatly. These technologies provide proper support to companies by enabling them to extend their abilities of earning profits and revenue. According to Berg, (2015) many of the large and medium scale organisations incorporating in United Kingdom have already implemented various types of digital technologies in their daily business operations. Companies find it easy to use and reduces the extra efforts and cost of the organisation. Digital technologies helps in gaining competitive advantages to the organisation. By implementing these technologies, the management would be able to sustain in the market economy in long run. Digital technologies indeed transforms the perspective of the organisations. Its applications such as cloud computing, social media marketing, mobile communication technologies etc. reduces the efforts, cost and time of the companies and provide assistance in enhancing the effectiveness in the quality of products and services.

Eklund, (2015) argued that digital technologies negatively impacts on the behaviour of employees. These technologies are sophisticated and complex that require proper training in order to comprehend the mechanism. The management failed to provide adequate training to employees in order to use these technologies sometimes observes conflicts within organisation. Many employees have become redundant for management and many employees leave the organisation. This increases the attrition rate in the companies and also, damages reputation of the corporation. Royle and Laing, (2014) said that in order to boost up motivation of employees and use of digital technologies, it is essential for the management to provide adequate training and support to employees.

Challenges faced by organisation in implementation of digital technologies

Whilst implementing and utilising the digital technologies, organisations face one or many issues which can slow down their progress and impact on productivity as well as profitability. According to Read, Taithe and Mac Ginty, (2016) cyber security and privacy issues along with infrastructure management as well as emerging technologies are considered as the biggest challenges faced by organisation. In order to implement the digital technologies and framework within the company, management has to ensure that the system has been installed in an appropriate manner so that possibilities of failure and misconfiguration can be eradicated. Hall, (2015) said that there are numerous challenges such as IT security, cloud computing, regulatory compliance and emerging technologies, etc. that have been faced by the organisations while implementing digital technologies. These challenges act as an obstruction for the management and thus, affects the growth and development of corporations. Management in order to implement latest digital technologies needs to invest huge amount which affects the budget of the organisation. Furthermore, there are several threats to security associated with the digital technology which can deteriorate the mainframe computer system of organisations negatively.

Arts, van der Wal and Adams, (2015) argued that challenges of digital technologies are not only limited to the infrastructure and emerging technologies, many organisations faced constant challenge of dissatisfied employees. Thus, in order to utilise these technologies efficiently, management needs to concentrate on these challenges and make attempts to eradicate them effectively.

Research Methodology

Research methodology is the framework of research study. Here researcher will explain the specific methodology that he or she will going to accomplish the aim and objectives of the study.

Research philosophy: It is considered as the way through which researcher will collect, analyse and interprets research data. In this research, researcher will use positivism research philosophy. Positivism helps in generalising theories and also helps in analysing the collected data.

Research Approach: Research approach is very essential and crucial component of research methodology. It is considered as a plan which comprises steps from formulating assumptions or hypotheses to describing ways of collection of data. There are two main types of research approach which are deductive and inductive. In the present research study, researcher will aim to use inductive research approach as it starts with attempting research questions, aims and objectives.

Research Design: Research design refers to the plan which helps researcher to attempts the research questions thoroughly (Mackey and Gass, 2015). There are various types of research design, used by the researchers and in the present research proposal researcher will use exploratory research design. Here researcher will explore the influence of digital technologies used by Tesco.

Research Strategy: Research strategy is the plan formulated by researcher which assist him to accomplish the aim and objectives of the study (Flick, 2015). There are various types of research studies such as qualitative, quantitative, systematic review, meta analysis etc. which has been used by researchers. In the present research study, researcher will use quantitative research method. Through this researcher will be able to analyse collected data effectively.

Data Collection: It is important part of study. In order to accomplish the aim and objectives of research, researcher has to use precise method of collection of data (Lewis, 2015). In order to collect relevant data, researcher will be using questionnaire research instruments which will be given to the managers at Tesco. Closed ended questions will be asked from them regarding the impact of digital technology. Books, journals, organisational website and articles will be used for collecting secondary data.

Sampling: Sampling is important as analysing large collected data is pragmatically not possible for researcher. By using stratified random sampling method, researcher will take a sample of 25 managers in order to analyse