Technological solutions

TeklnvaderZ is a technology and an It consulting company that offers a benchmark business as well as technological solutions (ZoomInfor.com, 2016). The company has a plethora of talented professionals that deliver business value to many companies both locally and globally with their technical skills. They specialize in data management solutions utilizing such tools as the IBM Datastage, Cognos, Oracle BI reporting, SAP enterprise, big data ETL solutions, enterprise security, web development, business analytics among others.  

They focus on the acquisition of in-depth knowledge of the client’s context and demands that in turn helps them design solutions that are specific to those needs. The company’s ideas and products have been substantial towards technology-intensive transformations to meet the international quality standards.  They help enterprises maintain a competitive advantage through a cost-effective delivery of highly skilled consultants in whatever location they are in requirement (ZoomInfor.com, 2016).

The company understands the reaction time that is appropriate so as to offer consistently companies and firms with the required technical resources that will help them to achieve their targeted growth (TekInvaderZ LLC, 2014). The goal of TeklnvaderZ is to build a working relationship with companies that are mutually beneficial. That gives them a high motivation to deliver the best consultants as well as the best customer service at their disposal continually. They can help organizations address their technical resource requirements with contract-to-hire, contract, and direct hire services. 2teh3y have the slogan that goes, ‘our strength is our people.’ They believe that is they focus on the delivery of best services to their customers and serve their staff well, they can continue to remain in the market and be on the top of other companies that offer similar services (TekInvaderZ LLC, 2014).

In this company, I will be carrying out my internship as a CRM (Salesforce) developer where I will have an engagement in various tasks and projects to help take the company and my profession to another level.  I will be working in the information technology department in the software development section where I would have the opportunity of interacting with other IT professionals and project team members to come up with technology solutions that meet the market needs. I will be working on the customization and integration of the Salesforce CRM software in the enterprise as mentioned above. That will be proficient in developing, customizing, integrating and deploying the Salesforce CRM.  The vision of the IT department of the organization is to ensure the delivery of outstanding services and to use the cutting-edge technology to secure a large market share as compared to its business rivals. That aligns with the organization's corporate mission that entails market dominance.

There are issues in the department and section in which I will be working as an intern in the named company above, and these issues are what I intend to solve as an expert in CRM development. One of the challenges that the CRM developers are having in the company is that they are not able to provide highly complex customizations on their Salesforce CRM due to what I think is incompetence. I will use the best of my knowledge and conduct research that will help solve that problem. Also, the methodology used in conducting research in the organization is the old, archaic methods that do not meet the demands of the organization and their clients. I will leverage the Action Research methodology that will help solve the current problems in the organization and thus meet the ever-growing needs of their clients as well as the market trends.

Methodology

Action Research (AR) is a disciplined inquiry process conducted by researchers whereby the primary goal of that research is to refine or improve the practice of the participants and their organizations in which they work (Koshy, 2005). The researchers conducting AR find AR to be empowering because each one of them has active participation in the research process and is thus beneficial to everyone (Trist, 1979). AR takes place by groups of peers whose focus is on finding a tangible solution to the practical problem at hand. The problem may be the one that the researchers are facing or the one the organization in which is facing. The AR process provides a series of inquiry processes that the researchers utilize to find relevant information and the appropriate path towards finding a solution to the problem they are trying to solve (Lewin, 1946). Sit helps them reflect on the practical situation, collect data, analyze it, plan the actions and finally evaluate those actions for their appropriateness to9 solve the problem.

History of Action Research

We can track the history of AR to the 1940s from a renowned social USA scientist b y the name Kurt Lewin. You cannot talk about Action Research without making mention of this scientist because he the one that brought about the term Action Research on his paper on Action Research and Minority Problems (Winter, 1987). In that book, Lewin says that AR entails a participatory process for handling conflicts, changes as well as transitions in actions and practices and practices within an enterprise. Lewin says that the inquiry process follows a spiral form of steps whereby each takes place in a recurring manner. The work of Lewin had a great impact on the social psychology, group dynamics as well as in experimental learning emphasizing on the full participation of all stakeholders in the problem environment.  What Lewin, however, did not come up with the term action research is the claim of some writers.

The writers found out that Lewin coined that term from an earlier research work of Vienna done in 1913.  Another claim is that John Collier was the author of Action Research (Deshler & Ewart, 1995) because he used this methodology while conducting a study to improve race relations after the Second World War. Another book published by Buckingham (1926) with the title, ‘Research for Teacher’ also demonstrates a concept of AR process and this brings confusion as to the originator of Action Research. However, from the action research became very popular from the 1970s particularly in the education field where it has been having applications while research is taking place to develop curriculum.

The application uses of Action Research

Action Research is useful in many fields including technology, healthcare, scientific and education. Wherever AR has an application the aim is to improve aid, the practitioners discover better ways of performing their activities as well as solve the problems that they are facing as individuals or as an organization. AR helps the practitioners to know who to include in their research work and how each participating in the research process is to contribute to the findings of the research process (Heron, 1987). The healthcare industry is also benefiting from and due to its application, there is the discovery of new and better ways for the delivery of services and general improvement of the industry. While the researchers are interacting with the community as well as the stakeholders, they develop a deeper insight of the impact of their practices and the requirements for them to improve the practice. They also develop insight regarding the effects of their practice to the organization, community, and their lives.  The technology industry has been using AR to come up with new technological innovations via collaborative research of technological experts (Elden & Rupert, 1993).  As time goes by, AR will gain more popularity and have application in all fields where research is taking place.

Its appropriateness

I will make use of the AR process to carry out research towards while working as an intern in the named company above. While I will be trying to discover better ways of carrying out my duties as a CRM developer, I will draw the knowledge and skills of other professionals and experts in those areas. That will, in turn, help me to improve my practice and solve the impending problems in this area in the company where I am doing my internship. The participatory inquiry process of Action Research will help me and other company experts to collaborate ideas as we carry out research so as to result in well-informed decisions that will bear the anticipated fruits. The AR methodology is also an appropriate methodology for my internship because it emphasizes the involvement of all stakeholders and end users of research outcome. That will help while conducting research to incorporate all the stakeholders including end users and thus I will gain maximally from the research work.

References

Buckingham, R. (1926). Research for teachers. New York: Silver, Burdett and Co

Deshler, D. & M. Ewert (1995). Participatory Action Research: Traditions and Major Assumptions. Ithaca, NY: Cornell participatory action research network.

Elden, M. & Rupert, C. (1993).  Emerging Varieties of Action Research: Introduction to the Special Issue.  Human Relations, 46(2), 121-42.

Heron, J. (1987). Co-operative inquiry. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Koshy V., (2005). Action Research for Improving Practice. First Edition.

Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues 2 34-36.

            London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

TekInvaderZ LLC (2014). Keep up with TekInvaderZ IT consulting and Staffing. 

Trist, E. (1979). Referent Organizations and the Development of Inter-Organizational Domains. 39th Annual Convention of the Academy of Management (Atlanta, 9/8, 1979). Pp 23-24.

Winter, R. (1987). Action-Research and the Nature of Social Inquiry: Professional Innovation and Educational Work.  Aldershot, England: Gower Publishing Company.

ZoomInfor.com (2016). TekInvaderZ LLC. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in article critique writing service if you need a similar paper you can place your order for top research paper writing companies.