The research report: Theoretical and conceptual frameworks

TO a senior student: you are assigned to submit a research paper as a final requirement for your major in a baccalaureate degree. Since your major is management, you choose to research on this topic. You begin to read journal articles on management and you discover that there are many topics on management that have been dealt with in the studies that you have come across. You will actually experience that the research process is not linear. You will need to go back and forth. Let’s use studies and research interchangeably in this discussion.

Deciding on a research topic. There are many instances which could inspire or trigger one to do a research on some topic. In one of your class sessions in Management, you may have learned that conflict could arise between the boss and subordinates when they have varying expectations of what the boss, on one hand, and the subordinates, on the other, should be doing. In fact, you have observed such situations in your personal life. Your cousin has been caught between his parents as to decisions he could make about his studies because his parents do not seem to have the same opinion on the extent of freedom your cousin has to decide about his career. You also noticed in your own student body organization, your officers sometimes argue with members about what officers can do without referring matters to members to which members do not always agree. In other words, the officers and members do not have a uniform understanding of the authority officers have or not have. You also noticed similar conflicts while you were doing your on-the-job-training. These incidents trigger your interest to study conflicts between those in authority and those who are under an authority.