Discussion Thread: Problem Statements and Research Questions
Business Problem Information
A bank is experiencing a decrease in productivity. Employees appear to be stressed as a result of unmitigated job demands. Bank leaders have tried to address the issues but their efforts have had minimal positive impact. Leaders at the bank, located in Austin, Texas, shared they are struggling to retain employees, and that the employees still present do not seem focused on daily tasks. Employees voiced issues with feedback and low morale. The customer base at the bank has decreased because of rude employees.
During research of the peer-reviewed, scholarly literature, it was noted that Franks (2021) discovered that bank leaders provided job resources to mitigate job demands, which led to an increase in productivity, workplace culture, and employee retention. New accounts also increase as a result of bank leaders addressing job demands (Franks, 2021). Bank customers were more likely to close and move their accounts to a different financial institution to avoid interacting with rude customers (Smith, 2023). Holmes (2022) shared that voluntary terminations escalated and job performance declined when employees had a significant increase in their workload. Employee performance dropped when overwhelming workloads negatively impacted employee performance (Jones, 2020).
CURRENT Bank Problem Statement
The general problem to be surveyed is that leaders lack an understanding of how to address job demands, resulting in an increase in voluntary termination, counterproductive workplace outcomes, and a loss of customers. Bank leaders discovered from customer surveys that customers are closing accounts because their rates are not competitive with area credit unions (Smith, 2023). Job demands such as a heavy workload interfered with employee performance, leading to decreased job performance (Jones, 2015). Healthcare employees who felt the organization’s benefits were not competitive were more likely to quit without notice, resulting in retention issues for the organization (George, 2023). Information technology leaders who provide job resources to offset job demand have seen an increase in (a) new accounts, (b) employee productivity, (c) positive workplace culture, and (d) employee retention. The specific problem to be addressed is that IT leaders in the information technology industry potentially lack an understanding of how to increase knowledge-sharing among remote team members in a computer store in Atlanta, Georgia, resulting in an increase in voluntary termination, counterproductive workplace outcomes, and a loss of retail space.
HINT: Read the Moore (2022) article, Effective Problem Statements and Research Questions before you begin. The article explains how to properly write an effective problem statement. You will not do well with this discussion assignment if you do not read the article. Next, read the business problem information provided above. Then, read the CURRENT problem statement.
Problem Statement Error Identification and Remedy
Identify and explain each of the error(s) in each sentence in the problem statement. Describe how you addressed each error.
Corrected Problem Statement plus Research Question
(Using Moore’s (2022) template), rewrite the problem statement, correcting the identified errors. (Your problem statement should contain one general problem sentence, four supporting sentences, and one specific problem sentence based on the business problem information provided.) Finally, provide a (single sentence) ‘prima facie’ research question (RQ) (with a maximum of 3 sub-questions if desired). Remember brevity, be concise – see rubric.
You will complete 4 Discussions in this course. For each Discussion, you will post onethread of as close to 300 words as possible by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Thursday of the assignedModule: Week. You must then post 1 reply to one of your peers of as close to 300 words aspossible by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Sunday of the assigned Module: Week. For each thread, youmust support your assertions with at least 3 peer-reviewed, scholarly citations (besides thepossible use of the course texts and the Bible) in current APA format. Each reply mustincorporate at least 1 peer-reviewed, scholarly citation (besides your peer’s citation/reference andthe possible use of the course texts and the Bible) in current APA format. Any external sourcescited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include scholarlyarticles, the course textbooks, the Bible, etc.). Biblical integration is NOT required.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS• Bold print are suggested headings or action words that should help you be successful incompleting your thread. Suggested headings for replies: Peer’s Point, Support/Refute/Addition• Provide a complete academic and scholarly peer response identifying a point in theclassmate’s original post and expound upon it (i.e., writing as a consultant TO a businessdecision-maker with the context of your original and a peers thread) taking a support,refute or additive perspective (not writing to your peer directly). Salutory-type commentssuch as ‘Thanks, Sue. . ..” or “I loved your post. . .,” or, “Your sources are awesome. . .”,or “I agree with your post” are not included in the word count and should be omitted(cover and references are also not included in the word count).• NOTE: In your reply post, you ARE influenced by your peer, so, when using/referringto a peer’s main thread, you must cite them and include them in the Reference listing.• Paste your text directly into the message window in the Learning Management System.• Materials submitted to fulfill requirements in one course may not be submitted in anothercourse.• Be sure to use current APA formatting for all elements of your main threads and replies.• Scholarly sources must have publication dates within the past 5 years. Do not use anybooks other than the Bible, and our other course textbooks (if applicable).• In-text citations are required to support your statements, points, assertions, issues,arguments, concerns, paragraph topic sentences, and statements of fact and opinion.• Sources of information from Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias will not beaccepted.• All parts of the assignment must be based on scholarly, academic work.• Avoid clichés, slang, jargon, exaggerations, abbreviations, figurative language, andlanguage that is too informal and too subjective.
