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Karen Cunningham

Fox School of Business
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  • Brewing Success at Burger King

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  • How Build A Bear Could Have Avoided Over Stuffing

August 6, 2019 By Karen Cunningham 2 Comments

5W1H

It may not be a post code, but 5W1H can help you find what you’re looking for.

The 5W1H acronym, which stands for five Ws and one H, represents a systematic method of asking questions to help you find the most critical details about a process, project or a problem.

I first learned about 5W1H – Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How – while studying journalism. News stories, I was taught, must include 5W1H in the lead – the first sentence or two – of the article. Good news stories compose the five Ws and the H in a compelling narrative that keeps the reader reading. For the journalist, 5W1H is a formula for getting all the pertinent facts on a subject to present a complete picture for the reader.

Sometimes referred to as the Kipling method after the English author Robert Kipling who paid homage in a poem to the questions for helping trigger ideas in his writing, 5W1H is commonly used to stimulate creative thinking or to find and develop new ideas. However, its use isn’t limited to the writing or creative process.

Since none of the questions can be answered with simple yes or no, 5W1H is also used as a basis for information gathering and problem solving. Asking who, what, when, where and why – no less than five times – in early stages of problem solving elicits detailed answers that support a complete analysis of the problem. It can also uncover additional opportunities, if they exist, so that better solutions and decision can be made.

In project management, the 5W1H questions are used as a checklist to ensure a project is covering all the necessary basis as well as ensure the overall effectiveness of project delivery.

As a corporate communications professional, I use the questions as the starting point for just about everything I do – from writing organizational announcements to developing manager talking points and naturally, building frequently asked questions. I also use them when I’m developing new programs and initiatives as the foundation for my business case. Answering the 5W1H questions helps me answer and organize all the key points my leadership team will need in order to decide if the program is worth funding.

Whatever your profession, project, process, or problem, you can use 5W1H to structure your thinking. Answering the 5W1H questions will give you a complete fact-based story and give you the facts you need to make an informed decision about what to do next.

 

Sources:

“Check out This Minilesson: Asking and Answering the 5 W’s and H Questions.” K, 6 Nov. 2015, k12.thoughtfullearning.com/minilesson/asking-and-answering-5-ws-and-h-questions.

Ipma. “5Ws 1H: A Technique to Improve Project Management Efficiencies.” IPMA International Project Management Association, 15 June 2018, www.ipma.world/5ws-1h-a-technique-to-improve-project-management-efficiencies/.

Kipling, Rudyard. “The Elephant’s Child (Poem).” Short Stories and Classic Literature, americanliterature.com/author/rudyard-kipling/poem/the-elephants-child-poem.

Markov, Sergey. “Sergey Markov.” Genvive, 7 Apr. 2019, geniusrevive.com/en/the-kipling-method-5w1h/.

Mindjet. “Five Ws and an H: 6 Questions All Project Managers Should Ask.” Five Ws and an H 6 Questions All Project Managers Should Ask Comments, 12 Apr. 2013, www.mindjet.com/blog/2013/04/6-questions-all-project-managers-should-ask/.

Mycoted, www.mycoted.com/Five_Ws_and_H?mobileaction=toggle_view_mobile.

“Using the Five W’s and One H Approach to Six Sigma.” ISixSigma, 15 Oct. 2014, www.isixsigma.com/implementation/basics/using-five-ws-and-one-h-approach-six-sigma/.

Filed Under: Articles, MIS5102 Tagged With: 5W1H, Five Ws and One H, journalism, Kipling Method, news writing, problem solving, process improvement, Robert Kipling

March 13, 2019 By Karen Cunningham Leave a Comment

AI not Ready for Hire

In February, a panel of HR experts discussing the latest recruiting trends, including the use of AI in the recruiting process, drew a similar conclusion to the one we did in class during our Moneyball exercise: data alone may not help you hire the best employee.

The panel at last month’s Recruiting Trends & Talent Tech LIVE! pointed to Amazon’s reported use of machine learning algorithms as an example. The October 2018 Reuters article that first reported Amazon’s alleged use of AI for hiring, said the company discontinued use of the system after discovering the system, which had been fed the resumes of the company’s predominately male past hires, taught itself to favor men.

The panelists said due diligence is absolutely essential. One said, “it’s important to remember that what you’re feeding them [hiring managers] are recommendations based on an algorithm that’s based on data…it’s critical to understand what data was used.”

Although I’m not a recruiter, whenever I need to hire staff, I find the task of sifting through resumes tedious, time-consuming torture. Technology that can lighten the load would certainly change the landscape. But even as it improves, I don’t think AI will ever completely replace human interaction in the hiring process. What do you think?

 

Sources: 

“Do Humans Really Have a Bias Against Algorithms?” HRExecutive.com, 6 Mar. 2019, hrexecutive.com/do-humans-really-have-a-bias-against-algorithms/.

Dastin, Jeffrey. “Amazon Scraps Secret AI Recruiting Tool That Showed Bias against Women.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 10 Oct. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-jobs-automation-insight/amazon-scraps-secret-ai-recruiting-tool-that-showed-bias-against-women-idUSKCN1MK08G.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: algorithms, Amazon, artificial intelligence, HR technology, machine learning, recruiting, recruiting technology, recruiting trends

September 16, 2018 By Karen Cunningham Leave a Comment

How Build A Bear Could Have Avoided Over Stuffing

 

Last week, Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) CEO Sharon Price John was still apologizing for the havoc their Pay-Your-Age promotion caused at malls across the country in July.  Price John told CNNMoney on September 13, 2018 that there was no way the company could have anticipated the unprecedented response to its promotion publicized as, “Everybody Come On In! Build-a-Bear Workshop Announces ‘Pay Your Age’ Day Deal in Stores on July 12.” I’m not entirely convinced that there was no way to predicate and mitigate the risk of too much volume.

In order to qualify for the promotion, parents or guardians over the age of 18 had to enroll in a rewards program, which they were encouraged to do online before arriving at a store for the event. Here was their feedback loop, but did BBW use it as such? Could they have used online enrollment to predict participation? What kind of data does enrollment collect? Could they have setup a process to match home address to nearest location? Could they have taken it further by identifying store capacity and offering any customer who enrolled after a location’s capacity was met an alternative to a store visit  (like the electronic vouchers they eventually uploaded to all bonus program members’ accounts in the U.S. and Canada)?

Better yet, systems thinking applied in the early stages of campaign design may have resulted in a promotion that offered one pay-your-age voucher uploaded to the account of every registered bonus club member by a certain date to be redeemed within a limited time. With this promotion design, BBW could have increased store traffic, sales and rewards program enrollment without putting customers, employees or their reputation at risk.


References:

LaMonica, Paul R. “Build-A-Bear CEO Sorry for Botched Pay Your Age Event.” CNN Money, September 13, 2018 https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/13/news/companies/build-a-bear-ceo-pay-your-age/index.html

“Everybody, Come On In! Build-A-Bear Workshop Announces ‘Pay your Age’ Day Deal in Stores on July 12.” https://www.buildabear.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-BuildABearSharedLibrary/default/dw2d345365/images/brand/pdfs/Pay-Your-Age-Day-2018-Press-Release-FINAL-2018-07-08.pdf

“Important Update – Pay Your Age Day.” https://www.buildabear.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-BuildABearSharedLibrary/default/dwc11d5f6d/images/brand/pdfs/US_Pay_Your_Age_Press_Release_2018-07-12.pdf

Open University: Systems thinking

Peter Senge: What systems thinking is and what it is not

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: build a bear, marketing, retail marketing, systems thinking

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