1. ORGS 2010: Organizations and Environments
Library Session October 2013
Presented by
Business Librarians:
Sophie Bury, Xuemei Li,
Kim Stymest,
Angie An,
Peter F. Bronfman Business Library S237, SSB

2. Secondary research sources & Group project
Organizational analysis group project
Three perspectives
Organization as strategic design, as a political system, and as a culture
Secondary research
The session today is tailored to organizational analysis assignment. It introduces new content above and beyond what you have learned before in other library sessions.
This session ties in with group project. Analyze organization. Use three perspectives or lenses – org as a strategic design, org as a political system and org as a cultural system. Also asked to learn something about the organization that matters to you.
To help you gather this information you are expected to use library resources including databases and business press. Will highlight information for you that can help you gather this type of information. So be focusing on range of resources that provide insights in to organizations be they publicly traded companies, private companies or nonprofits. We’ll be wending in examples of companies that you are actually working with in your groups.
First off, want to highlight for you the materials we’ve created to support this session.
Course guide – show path to get to it. one-stop-shop. Show slides there too.
Refer to handout. Mention package also includes an evaluation – end of class.
Library course guide available at:

3. How do you know which information can be trusted?
Getting started with research for Orgs2010 organizational analysis assignment Key Questions to ask
There are a lot of sources available. How do you know which one to use?
How do you know which information can be trusted?
What questions should I be asking myself?
1st Q: It is never a good idea to use only one source. If possible you should compare information obtained directly from an organization’s publications or website with information retrieved from an authoritative source such as a database, e.g. Mergent Online or Lexis Nexis Academic, etc that include company information based or company filings and researcher analysis. Remember too there is a tonne on the free Web.
Add the library resources to it. You get value added.
2nd Q: Searching Google can be useful as a starting place but it’s not a good place to finish up. If you cannot identify the source of the information, do not use it. Be sure to include library resources which are chosen for their authority and reliability. Apply critical thinking to all the information your gather whether it is from an organization’s website, from a database or from articles published in magazines, trade, publications, scholarly journals or newspapers, from advocacy groups or on the Internet.
3rd Q:
What is the source, i.e. who produced/wrote it?
Who is the target audience?
How long ago was it written and is it still relevant?
What is the point of view?

4. Library web site: http://www.library.yorku.ca
Getting started – need to know what key jumping off points are.
Library web site. Use as a main search portal. As you get to know names of databases – use this search box. Don’t Google them. Off campus you won’t get access. Passport York authentication. Show link to Bronfman Library and remind them that’s where their course guide is.

5. Bronfman business library web site
Go here and show them where the course guide is and the other useful guides on the site. This slide links to BBL home page.
Mention about ways to get help from a business librarian.

6. Public vs private vs nonprofit organizations
Publicly-Traded
Private
Non-Profit
Key question to consider as you begin your research is: What type of company am I dealing with and how will that affect the amount of information I am likely to find about it?
Have the list of companies you are working with – some are publicly traded, some are subsidiaries of a parent, some are private, some are non-profit. Tailor as appropriate. Which type easiest to find information about? (ask them)
Publicly-traded: are traded on stock exchanges or over-the-counter and are subject to regulation by securities commissions/authorities. They are required by law to report publicly and to provide annual reports to shareholders. You will find lots of information on public companies including a mission statement, company profile and history, the executives and officers of the company, a business description, brief product descriptions, stock information, financial statements and ratios, recent developments, career information, community relations/corporate social responsibility statements, etc.
Private company information is much more difficult to find. You may find a profile, contact information, senior executives, brief business description, date of incorporation, and sometimes broad annual sales/revenue estimates that are self-reported.
Nonprofit organization information is also limited but they must report to the Canada Revenue Agency and file a report with Charities Listing so there is a little more information available. Also because they often rely on volunteers, their web pages have more information about their philosophy, activities, career or volunteer opportunities, etc.

7. Organization web sites Example: ING Direct Canada
Talk about company web site as a source of information. Use ING Direct as example but the principles are transferable to other company web sites.
Many kinds of information history, mission statement, products and services, careers with them, CSR etc.
About Us can often be particularly useful. The image the company wants to portray of itself.
Show about us, community section. Value of site map – orange culture.
ING: Who we are – show different sections of it. Show them the piece on the orange culture – site map – under careers.
What about their annual reports and filings? – Parent company
How do you determine where the parent is – show Hoovers as a way to look this up. Show how to get there from library home page.
Then to go ing.com to show them investors section of the site.
This is a subsidiary of the main company in the Netherlands. If it’s the parent company you can take a look for filings.
Refer to examples they are working with – if any of them have companies that are subsidiaries in the same way advise the group to follow this path.
Consider whether your organization is a subsidiary of a company headquartered abroad. Hoovers can help you determine where a company is headquartered.

8. Public Company filings – Including annual reports
SEDAR (Canada)
EDGAR (United States)
Mergent Online (International)
click on reports link for company
Explain that they may not get all the filings on a company web site.
If they want to be sure they get all filings and an archive use the sites where companies must file by law.
companies that report to the Canadian Securities Administrator, e.g. those listed on the TSX, must file annual reports, quarterly statements, management discussion and more on SEDAR . Similarly companies traded on U.S. stock exchanges must file their documents on the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) EDGAR database. Please note annual reports on EDGAR are actually 10-K documents and not the traditional annual report. They contain much more information. If you are looking for annual reports for companies outside of North America, Mergent Online is recommended.
Using one of their companies show how SEDAR can be used to find an annual report. Mention we’ll get to Mergent Online later.
Talk about the kind of information they find in the annual report. Remember that it is a PR document. Need sources the company itself does not produce.

9. Annual reports : Much of value
Talk about the kind of information they find in the annual report. Value of all components. MD&A for strategy. Remember that it is a PR document. Need sources the company itself does not produce.

10. Nonprofit organizations – annual Returns
Charities Listings The Canada Revenue Agency maintains a searchable list of Canadian charities called the Charities Listings, which can be used to confirm whether a charity is registered under the Income Tax Act and is therefore eligible to issue official donation receipts; and to view a charity's contact information and Registered Charity Information Return, which includes financial information and activities.
Only show this slide if relevant to the orgs the class is working on.
More information available through our nonprofit guide – financial information section

11. Libraries: company Research Resources Publicly traded & Private companies
Mergent Online
International coverage
Publicly-traded companies
Infomart
Canadian coverage
Marketline Advantage
international coverage
Useful for SWOTs and case studies
Hoovers
Publicly traded and private companies
Third party acting as source of information here. FP and Mergent are big names in the industry. Bring together fundamentals about the company in one place that can take longer to pull together from a company’s web site.
No. of employees, board of directors and executives, description of business, date of incorporation, competitors etc.
Financials – historical archive. Can give you insights when doing org analysis if you have some understanding of the financial health of the organization.
Also not static or pdf – export to excel and reported for a ten year span.
Do example using Mergent and mention that you will find information listed under parent company although subsidiaries are identified. You might want to think about questions such as how much independence does a subsidiary have and how do individual country laws, e.g. labour laws, affect the operations of a subsidiary.
Show Marketline Advantage if SWOT available for one of groups.
Then show Hoovers taking a private company as an example from the class. Mention print directories as an option for private company info too.
Other options for private company research: There are print directories which you will find in the Bronfman Business Library Reference Room, e.g. Canadian Key Business Directory – HG 4090 Z5 C3 and Scott’s Business Directories – T 12.5 C22.

12. Library streaming videos – additional source for OB and company research
Search the catalogue Type Films on Demand in the search box (keyword search). Browse videos by subject, e.g. organizational behaviour or search by keyword, e.g. company name.
Books 24 x 7
50 Lessons Topics
Leadership Development Channel Topics
Possible to search video transcripts by keyword (can be a company name)
Show them the Organizational Behaviour videos available as part of Films on Demand. Some company specific. Can also search company name as keyword.
Show Books 24x7.

13. Career resources – useful for organizational analysis assignment
Job sites such as monster.ca, Eluta and Workopolis, Glassdoor
Linked In
Best Employers Lists/Rankings
50 Best Employers in Canada
Canada’s Top 100 Employers
Companies present a certain image of themselves in job postings.
Talk about Linked In as a company research tool.
Employer rankings. Why a good place to work. Insights in to culture.
Show Canada’s Top 100 and show them how it links to other types of rankings which are useful. Tabs up top e.g. green etc.
Show them the career guide. Especially the Find Employers section.
Check out our Career Research Resources Guide

14. COMPANY ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTS
Cogmap
A free directory of organization charts
Use one of their companies as an example. Mention that it is the best we have in terms of org charts but that they may want to check date updated etc.

15. Corporate social responsibility & Company research
Sustainalytics rates companies on environmental, social and governance performance. For most performance issue areas, it includes aboriginal relations, community involvement, corporate governance, employee relations, the environment and human rights. The framework calls for a complete examination of each company's performance record in that area, as well as an evaluation of each company's record in these areas overall.
Show example of company from class if possible. Show the company report – the ratings, the review of programs/policies etc. in place in ESG areas, and the controversy element of the report.
Mention Bloomberg ESG and also Corporate Register.com – for company sustainability or corporate citizenship reports
Check out the CSR section of the company research guide

16. Union contracts and collective agreements
Negotech Canada Human Resources and Skills Development provides access to union contracts and collective agreements.
Ask the question. Is your company unionized? Most are not. You can check here. You can get insights this way.
Walmart Canada works as example.

17. Finding Business Articles
Guide to Finding Business Articles
Proquest Business includes
ABI Inform Global
ABI Trade and Industry
CBCA Business Complete
Proquest European, Proquest Asian
Business Source Premier
Scholars Portal Journals
Factiva
Asked to use business press.
Why use the library?
Go to Factiva and do a search relating to their company.
If possible also do an example with Proquest.
Demo: Start at the Libraries’ home page

18. Academic Integrity - Plagiarism Footnotes and Bibliography
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism - Academic Integrity Tutorial
Style Guides & Writers' Manuals : links to some tools and manuals to help you with citing sources in papers.
Citing business databases using MLA
Citing business databases using APA
Mention academic integrity tutorial as a way they can teach themselves.
As we deal with this quite briefly in MGMT1040 spend a bit of time here and take time to show them the main guide, perhaps bringing them to Purdue OWL, and also at least one of the MLA or APA guides for business talking about the examples.

19. Thanks for your attention
Business librarians are available to help you all through the year:
at the reference desk
or by chat reference at