Problems of data science in organizations: An explorative qualitative analysis of business professionals' concerns

In this exploratory study, we analyze 150 comments from 79 participants, the roles ranging from top management and other business professionals to software developers, to identify key problems of employing data science in organizations. The comments are retrieved from a publicly available LinkedIn discussion thread in which the participants are discussing the problems relating to data science implementation and management. We use qualitative coding to analyze the comments and find issues from several management-related categories, including (a) job descriptions and recruitment, (b) leadership, (c) economical aspects, and (d) clarity about data use and goals. The findings also highlight that 'data scientist' is not just a one role, but combination of many different roles, including analyst, scientist, programmer, and business person. The multiplicity of skills required hinders the recruitment of such individuals, and the existing organizational structures are not always compatible with the multidisciplinary nature of data scientists. We conclude with recommendations to address these issues.