The following is adapted from some presentations to our Executive MBA group. It's a combination of what I actually said and what I wished I had said. I spoke equally on all four points, but tonight I'm only writing about the fourth one.
Why the research skills you learn in the library are important -
- Authoritative information
- Save time with more precise searching
- Getting a competitive edge with your information
- Bullshit detection
Some people might be thinking, yeah I need to learn this stuff while I'm a student and have these research assignments, but I know that when I'm finished with business school, I can safely forget about it. The reason why I'm taking this course is to prepare me for a leadership position in the company. If I need research, I'll just pay a consultant or somebody else to do it for me. I won't need to do it myself.
For one thing, it is impossible to be in a leadership in business without making decisions. Decision-making has two essential ingredients - information and a brain which processes and analyzes the information. It is possible to make decisions without information but these are invariably poor decisions. To gather the information needed for decision-making, there is no escaping the fact that you need to do research. What I am saying is that the decision-maker has the responsibility to research. As a matter of practicality, the research work is often delegated to an information professional. I am very aware of distinction involved in researching and gathering information to make a decision. I am more than happy to research all the facets of an issue, and giving reasons for and against the various positions. But don't ask me to tell you what to do - you don't pay me enough for that. Giving advice is something I happily eschew, except in a strictly obiter capacity. There are some decisions which only the CEO is placed to make. This is why you need research skills - to identify what you need to know and have an idea of how to find them, or who to ask.
This leads to my other point here. The research skills which you learn in a library will serve you well in your career as a form of bullshit detector. Even if you delegate the research work, as the decision-maker you are still responsible for gathering the information you need. This means you need to be able to critically evaluate the research that is done on your behalf. You need to understand what was done and determine if it's acceptable. One of the best ways of learning how to evaluate the quality of research is to do your own research and learn how the process should work. In your Executive MBA you won't be able to get away with limiting your research to the top 10 hits of a Google search. One of the goals of the course is that you will develop a sense of what is and isn't solid research, so that the next time one of your departments or a consultant tries to palm off some filmsy "research", you will recognize the danger signs. In these days when information seems so abundant, research is not just about locating information, it's also about filtering and excluding information.