Hamilton Ltd : A case in research consultancy

Abstract

This case examines a research consultant’s experience in providing organisational survey services to Hamilton Ltd, a large manufacturing firm based in Australia. After re-listing on the Australian stock exchange in 2003, Hamilton’s senior management team concluded that productivity gains could be obtained from organisational development initiatives that were based upon the results of an employee survey. Like many organisational surveys, however, there were a number of practical issues with the Hamilton case that show how designing a research project is rarely a simple case of designing questionnaires and implementing suitable sampling strategies. The case takes the perspective of the research consultant and considers the types of decisions that such a person is likely to face in evaluating an organisation’s previous surveying attempts and in designing a survey that will meet the organisation’s research aims. Includes questions for discussion. NOTE; This case is also available as a teaching case from the University of Auckland Business Case Centre, Case Number: UA-2005-012