Question

Why should managers participate in the proposal development stage in the research process? Identify some consequences if the manager does not participate at this stage.

Answer 1

Managers should participate in the proposal development stage, because it is the manager that can provide key inputs regarding what should be the area of research, scalability of the outcome of the research and feasibility of research outcome while going though the existing operations and further resources required to realize the research outcome. Besides, managers know the best about the strengths and weaknesses of the team, as well as degree of flexibility of the existing operational capabilities. It will make Proposal development process to be more pragmatic and based on strengths of the organization. So, managers should participate in proposal development process.

If managers do not participate, then there are some consequences to it.  The first consequence is mismatch in research recommendations and organization's operational capabilities. It makes research to be of no greater use. The second consequence is the problems associated scalability of the recommended action of the research. It also means that research process is an exercise of less use and it is only due to non-participation of managers. The third consequence is the lack of cooperation and lack of motivation at the end of managers when they are not included in the research process. It makes very difficult for the organization  to get the successful implementation of recommendations.