Rainy Monday fun: On datagraphics, companies as researchers, and global office cultures

I was scanning the June 17-23 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek this morning when I came across an interesting datagraphic: Office Cultures: A Global Guide.  Based on research done in 11 countries by Steelcase (a furniture maker in Michigan), this datagraphic gives me an opportunity to highlight a number of business research resources and strategies.

1. Companies also do research! I know that will seem obvious, but we often think of primary research as the sort of thing that academics or private research firms might do, but companies...?  Of course they research to understand their markets and industries!  Perhaps more importantly (for us)...

2. Some company research gets published where you can get to it for free! Yes, of course you will never get to see the results of most of the research done by corporations, but sometimes they will have a reason for releasing it:

• * Does the research show their customers, suppliers, and investors that they are on top of developments in their industry?
• * Did they release case studies that show potential customers how past customers have benefited from their products or services?
• * Do they have a research section on their site?  Do they offer white papers?  How about a magazine like Steelcase's 360 Research?

Steelcase, for example, has provided detailed results from their study, including several country-specific articles, for free at their site. For more examples (on similar topics) check out these reports from global HR consulting firm AON Hewitt on employee engagement and on national talent in the Middle East.

3. News sources such as Bloomberg Businessweek can be a great place to spot such resources. Searching for the relatively rare instances when companies have released information that you could use can be really inefficient -- you'll quickly be overwhelmed by ads.  Why not make use of the fact that journalists will often find and highlight such research for you?

Always browse at least Bloomberg Businessweek, Canadian Business, the Economist, and BC Business, and it never hurts to scan the business section of Google News while you're having your morning coffee.  And when you see some research mentioned, follow the clues to get to the original source.  Don't assume the journalist has given you the whole story in their short article.

4. Datagraphics are cool! Or maybe the right term is "hot" -- I'm increasingly seeing colourful graphics used to convey complex business ideas in the news, in student assignments, and in corporate reports, and I understand that the ability to summarize and explain information in simple charts and figures is one of the key abilities employers are looking for in new grads.  The Dashboard feature in our Passport GMID database is one example of such graphics.  For help creating such images check out some of our many books and ebooks on...

• * Microsoft's Visio software,
• * the subjects of Information visualization or Visual analytics,
• * or the combination of the subjects Visual communication and Business presentations.

5. And, switching away from datagraphics for a minute, if you're interested in researching global variations in office cultures, check out our research guide for International HR Management (BUS 432) for lots of research tips.