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ChaPter 5 • InformatIon GatherInG: unobtrusIve methods 135

CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY 5.2

A Rose by Any Other
Name . . . Or Quality, Not Quantities

“I think we have everything we need. I’ve sampled financial state- he has unearthed from Fields field offices, “we’ll be able
ments, sales figures for each branch, waste for each shop—we have to deliver.”
it all. With all these numbers, we should be able to figure out how Three weeks later, Rod returns to Clay with wilting
to keep Fields in the green, or at least at the forefront of the flower confidence. “I don’t know what to make of all this. I can’t
business. We can even show Seymour Fields himself how his new seem to get at what’s causing the company’s growth, or
computer system can make it all happen,” says Rod Golden, a junior how it’s managed. They’ve been expanding, but I’ve been
systems analyst working for a medium-sized consulting group. through all the figures, and nothing really seems to make
The firm, under the supervision of its head systems analyst, sense yet.”
Clay Potts, has been working on a systems project for the entire Clay listens empathetically, then says, “You’ve given me
chain of 15 successful florist shops and indoor floral markets called a germ of an idea. What we need is some cross-pollination,
Fields. Each of three Midwestern cities has five Fields outlets. a breath of fresh air. We need to dig a little deeper. Did you
“Although it’s just a budding enterprise now, eventually we examine anything but their bottom line?”
want to grow with offshoots to half a dozen states,” says Seymour Rod looks startled and replies, “No, I—uh—what do you
Fields, the owner. “I want to reap the benefits of all the happiness mean?”
we’ve sown so far. I think we can do it by playing my hunches about How can Clay Potts tactfully explain to Rod Golden that
what is the best time to purchase flowers at each European market examination of qualitative as well as quantitative documents
we buy from, and then we should prune back our purchases. could be important to delivering an accurate assessment of
“Over the past three years, I’ve written lots of memos to our Fields’s potential to be a more fruitful enterprise? In a para-
managers about this plan. They’ve written some good ones back, graph, recommend some specific documents that should be
too. I think we’re ready to stake out some territory on this soon,” read. List the specific steps Rod should follow in evaluating
continues Seymour, painting a rosy picture of Fields’s future. qualitative documents obtained from Fields. Write a para-
“I agree,” says Rod. “When I come back from my analysis graph to explain how qualitative documents help in presenting
of these figures,” he says, indicating a large stack of material an overall account of Fields’s success.

Figure 5.3
A performance report showing
improvement.

Number of
Week Number of
Batches Percentage
Batches Amount
Produced Rejected
Rejected Away from
2/2 5% Goal
2/9 245 19
2/16 229 19 7.8 2.8
219
2/23 252 14 8.3 3.3
3/2 13 6.3 1.3
3/9 245 13 5.2 0.2
3/16 260 13 5.3 0.3
3/23 275 14 5.0 * * *
260
3/30 260 13 5.1 0.1
4/6 244 13 5.0 * * *
4/13 12 5.0 * * *
4/20 242 11 4.9 * * * Performance
4/27 249 11 4.5 * * * reports
249 4.4 show goals …
11 * * *
4.4
* * *
* * * indicates met or exceeded the < 5% goal
… and trends.