External factors with impact on research

Another way of identifying issues and/or research problems is by looking at the wider social, economic, political, legal, technology and environmental situation to decide whether any of the categories can be a foundation for a research project. This is what is called PESTEL analysis. PESTEL includes: • Political category: Internally this may include tax policies; environmental regulations; trade restrictions and reform; tariffs; political stability and other. • Economic category: Internally this may include economic growth/decline; interest, currency exchange, inflation and wage rates; minimum wage; working hours; unemployment (local and national); credit availability; cost of living; purchasing power and other. • Social category: Internally this may include cultural norms and expectations; health consciousness; population growth rates; age distribution; career attitudes; health and safety; religions; customs and other. • Technology category: Internally this may include innovations; continuous emerging technologies (for example, robotics and artificial intelligence); the speed of adapting to new technologies; the rate of technology change; the impacts of technologies and other. • Legal category: Internally this may include changes to legislation impacting employment, access to materials, quotas, resources, imports/exports, and taxation and other. • Environmental category: Internally this may include global warming; livelihoods; natural resources; depletion of resources; the increased need to switch to sustainable resources; ethical sourcing (supply chain intelligence on local and national level). Within PESTEL categories, you may also want to consider some specific trends and/or events which impacts organisations and which managers may have to consider. Equality and diversity Sustainable development have to incorporate diversity. More and more organizations have to adapt to expectations for greater diversity in ethnicity, religion , gender and other. COVID-19 The Covid-19 global pandemic has highlighted challenges to organisations. For example, how to implement remote working(RW) possibilities; how to allow employees flexibility to support productivity; to maintain health expectations and other. Technology automation and artificial intelligence (AI) There have been many debates around increasing greater automation at work and the use of artificial intelligence. This have diverse implications for organisations and employment. Gig-economy This trend of employment have workers employed via ‘’arms-length’’ contracts. For example; companies like Uber view their employees as independent contractors with limits to certain employment rights. These employment trend offers increasing competition to organisations using traditional practices. Data management Organisations are now required to explain how they manage and retain data privacy of their customers. But at the same time, this data has become more valuable for targeting marketing activities. This conflict may impact organisations practices in a technical, social or/and ethical manner. Sector-specific issues Just as every sector influences the external environment, the external environment influences each sector. Therefore it is worth investigating any sector-specific issues which may have impact on your specific organisation. For example; one might examine how the materials your organization is using for production are produced by reading professional publications. It is important to remember the main focus of research is to address a management problem related to one’s organisation, but linking different types of issues can help with reflecting on the wider implications of the topic.