Doctors today have very little time to listen to a medical representative. They have become patient-centric and feel that listening to a medical representative is a waste of their time. Wishing to learn what could make a doctor prescribe a drug when visited by the medical representative, I drew up a questionnaire consisting of product-centric variables and non-product-based variables. The questionnaire had six variables, which had to be ranked from 1 to 6, with 1 being the most important and 6 being the least important. The variables were easy availability, economical drugs, company name, sponsorships, medical representative’s dedication, and samples among the non-product-based variables and safety, efficacy, tried and tested, less drug interactions, good reviews of the drug, and less adverse effects among the product-based factors. A total of 100 doctors were interviewed. A personal interview was conducted wherein the questionnaire was direct and structured. The results were such that in Thurstone Case V Scaling, economical drugs were considered as the most effective way to get doctors to prescribe, followed by easy availability, company name, medical rep dedication, samples, and sponsorships among the non-product-centric factors, whereas in the product-centric factors, it included efficacy, followed by time tested, less adverse effects, safety, less drug interactions, and good drug reviews. In Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, it was found that a high, positive correlation existed between economical drugs and efficacious drugs and a medium, positive correlation existed between economical drugs and safe drugs. Similarly, a medium–high correlation existed between company name and time-tested drugs.

Supervised and unsupervised employees are assumed to be quite different. A supervised employee can always fall back to the supervisor in times of need as compared to an unsupervised employee who has to fend for himself in most times. Wishing to find out as to what keeps supervised as well as unsupervised employees going in an organization, I drew up a questionnaire to be filled up by the employees. The questionnaire had six variables which had to be ranked from 1 to 6, with 1 being the most important and 6 being the least important. The variables were Discipline, Growth, Desire to learn, Organizational skills, Dedication, and Motivation. A total of 100 employees were interviewed, 50 who were supervised and 50 who were not supervised. A personal interview was conducted wherein the questionnaire was direct and structured.  The results were such among the supervised employees growth was ranked first followed by discipline and desire to learn whereas among the unsupervised employees growth was ranked first followed by desire to learn and motivation.

In today’s age and times, one wants to know as to which method will suit best for a performance appraisal. Are the traditional methods still good, or does one have to shift to the newer methods or the modern methods? Also, whether any correlation existed between the traditional forms of performance appraisal and employee promotion and the modern forms of performance appraisal and employee promotion. The study was conducted on 50 managers from different service organizations across the state of Goa. A random direct structured questionnaire was utilized wherein a personal interview was conducted. The findings were such that the highest ranked method of performance appraisal desired by the service managers was the 360-degree method followed by management by objectives (MBO) and assessment centers. A high negative correlation existed between traditional forms of performance appraisal and employee promotion and a medium positive correlation between modern forms of performance appraisal and employee promotion. This meant that although the modern forms of performance appraisal were desired by managers, they did not feel the need to use them when it came to giving promotions to the employees.

Do rapport and information have any bearing on doctors’ preference for high priced products? This was the study undertaken by me. Doctors in urban areas usually do not have the time to develop rapport with the medical representatives and as a result should not accept high priced products. On the other hand information too will not influence prescription of high priced products because they depend upon peer advice, seminars and conferences and evaluation tests. The situation among rural doctors is different wherein they should welcome medical representatives and their information and develop a rapport with them and thereby prescribe high priced products. However it was seen that developing a rapport was not enough for rural doctors to prescribe high priced products as they looked into the affordability of their patients first. However information was accepted and even high priced products were prescribed by doctors. On the other hand urban doctors were not influenced by either rapport or information and depended on conferences, seminars, peer advice and evaluation tests before prescribing high priced products. The study was conducted on 200 urban doctors and 200 rural doctors in Goa. A personal interview was conducted wherein the questionnaire was direct and structured. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was used to determine if information and rapport had any correlation with doctors prescribing high priced products.

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